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Chinese in Vancouver 2002 - 2006


mamster

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From my Chinese parents point of view ( who've lived here for 30 yrs ), Chinese restaurants don't post all their menu items in English mainly because they don't believe that anyone who can't read Chinese would have any interest in eating some of the more 'adventurous' items. If anything, it would have a detrimental effect on business if a non-open-minded English speaking only person wandered into their restaurant, sees the special of the day as something to the extent of "chicken feet, pig intestines" - and promptly proceeds to pass out .. well then, it's just safer business sense to keep the Enligsh items to dishes such as Sweet and Sour Pork. Overall, in Vancouver the attitude towards non-conventional Chinese dishes has become much more accepting - but I know that when my cousins from England visit, they turn an interesting shade of green when the realization hits home as to what my parents have ordered on the dinner table :smile:

A lesser factor may be that Chinese restauranteurs simply don't know the translation to some of their menu items, so they just find it easier to keep it in Chinese. On more than a few occasions I've asked my parents to translate a food item into English for me, and it took quite an effort on their part & mine to come to an understanding. (My parents are more fluent in English, than I am in Cantonese.. it's a source of great embarrassment to them :wink: )

As for them keeping the good deals written only in Chinese ? Possible, but highly unlikely that the wait staff would dodge answering any questions that you might have about their specials for the day ..

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Not like it matters, but I have no beef with anyone regarding the language the want to use for their signage. I just find it curious on an intellectual level as it seems to go against basic business principles.

BTW, Keith, I hope you didn't read anything into my example when I used your name.

The most basic principle of business is survival. If your tables and till are full and your (Chinese) customer base is satisfied, there's no need nor motivation for the restaurant to spend the time/effort to create English signage and menus. Makes perfect business sense to me.

Businesses are driven by sales and if sales are already good, why add more amenities? Of course, the lack of English signage could be the death knell for some restaurants doing borderline business. Those businesses are obviously missing out on an opportunity to fill seats. However, businesses have every right to be incompetent and run themselves into the ground. I see it every day. :biggrin:

Edited by sanrensho (log)
Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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So after all this, I vote for an eG outing to the Mega Happy But Misleading Rising Sun Cantonese place - led by Canucklehead.

Two Atlanta visitors (and LTHforum frequenters) here who would happily, no--ecstatically--join in on this, or a Shanghai Wind, or a serial Dim Sum or a Hunan or most any other Richmond Chow Adventure:

Sep 2 from 5 PM forward thru Sep 4 noon; and

Sep 6 from 5 PM forward thru Sep 8.

Please PM me.

We once had a pretty good HK place here in Atlanta, in fact, thirteen years ago we had our pre-wedding dinner supper there, thirty folks, all ages, for lobster ginger scallion, salt and pepper shrimp, crispy roast chicken, singapore noodles, snow pea leaves, the usual stuff from the heart of the HK culinary lexicon.

Lately, no HK places here worth a darn, haven't really enjoyed dim sum since Seafood Harbor in Millbrae nigh by the San Francisco Airport awhile back. But a pretty darn good Shanghai/Mandarin place, with soup dumplings (I've mastered how to say it in Mandarin, but not the transliteration <grin>) who the Taiwanese-American wife of a recent internet chow friend asseses as near as good as they get. Not to mention pork belly over spinach, which we only were able to get after extensive wheedling from a usually amenable host, absolutely ethereal.

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Thanks for the directions. We had a very successful meal. Taking Canucklehead's advise, we urged the kitchen not to spare the spice. They probably did anyway, but the result was just right -- hot but not insane. Cannot at this point recite all the dishes, but notable were a fried (not battered) chicken with chili and a pork stir fry with preserved chilies. Next on our list is the Shanghai Wind.

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now, i have a question for you, how was your service?  i've found that the last few times i've been there, with both family and friends, the service from the dad was always great (just like back home, relaxed but casually friendly), but when the son is serving us, we get tremendous attitude.  almost like it's a giant burden.  leaves me kinda shellshocked, to tell you the truth.  we've stopped going there because it makes us extremely uncomfortable.  double sigh.  we miss the food though.....

The service was actually fine - the son was serving us and if anything, he seemed like he was trying to get on top of things and was working hard to keep up. I think the trick was our Chinese brusqeness - we ordered alot and kept him on his toes. The father cooking out back looked mean - but was in fact very nice. Perhaps this is a case of Hong Kong style of forwardness working - we were polite and nice, but we were there to eat - not to make friends with our waiter and that attitude conveys itself in all sorts of ways. My cousin has been a number of times and likes it alot - I don't she has ever noticed any real service issues.

Have been to Kedah numerous times, and had service from the father, the mother, and the sons. The only time there was a slightly negative service experience was one time when we got there shortly before closing. They were definitely in a rush. But every single other time they have been nothing but friendly and on top of things. Were you perhaps there just before closing?????

Cheers!

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The service was actually fine - the son was serving us and if anything, he seemed like he was trying to get on top of things and was working hard to keep up.  I think the trick was our Chinese brusqeness - we ordered alot and kept him on his toes.  The father cooking out back looked mean - but was in fact very nice.  Perhaps this is a case of Hong Kong style of forwardness working - we were polite and nice, but we were there to eat - not to make friends with our waiter and that attitude conveys itself in all sorts of ways.  My cousin has been a number of times and likes it alot - I don't she has ever noticed any real service issues.

lol, i am all too familiar with the "chinese brusqeness"!! my family and i are chinese malaysians and are proud gluttons!! well, we will try it again.

Have been to Kedah numerous times, and had service from the father, the mother, and the sons.  The only time there was a slightly negative service experience was one time when we got there shortly before closing.  They were definitely in a rush.  But every single other time they have been nothing but friendly and on top of things.  Were you perhaps there just before closing?????

Cheers!

no we were there pretty early. it's only been the son that has given us negative service. almost eye rolling, big sigh, ignore the table sort of service. i work with the public so am always aware to be nice and polite to servers, always minding my p's and q's. maybe i'll do take out next...lol!

Quentina

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Aagh!

This may belong on the open/close thread - but I just heard that Hoi Tong in Richmond (on No.3 road) has just shut it's doors. The sign on the storefront says 'closed for holidays' - but really, when does a Chinese Restaurant close if it can be making money?

Chef/owner was in his 70's so it was hard for him to keep up with the demands of cooking for the place. The food was really homey and not too pricey- I will miss it.

Here is the kicker - rumour has it that the reason why the restaurant shut down was that the Chef's wife caught him with her sister!! The wife refuses to let the place re-open. I thought it was the cooking that had him tuckered out.

Well - hopefully they can get things settled so that we can enjoy the food again.

Edited by canucklehead (log)
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Courtesy of the excellent recommendations in this thread (especially from Canucklehead and Ling), we branched out from our usual diet of Cantonese food over a two week visit to our second home in Vancouver. We started with Hu Hu Nan, then tried the Golden Szechuan and finished with a dinner at Shanghai Wind. Each of these restaurants stood up to the recommendations here. We especially enjoyed our dinners at Golden Szechuan and Shanghai Wind. The former offers perhaps the best Hot and Sour soup we have encountered. We also had a searingly hot braised cabbage with chilis and several other very good spicy dishes. Dinner at Shanghai Wind was memorable for its Shanghai soup dumplings and a terrific garlic eggplant dish. Thanks to all and keep the recommendations coming for those of us who do not have a Chinese community network.

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Finally hit Shanghai Wind for the first time today with boss and co-workers. We must have been the oddest table in the restaurant, with 2 Chinese, 1 Caucasian, 1 Hindu, and 1 half Japanese half Caucasian. :biggrin:

There were 2 printed menus, one with dim sum items, rice and noodles, and soup. This menu is with both Chinese and English. However, the other menu, which has the other dishes, was entirely in Chinese. Makes it a lot harder when one co-worker wanted to know the name of the dish so she doesn't have to order sweet and sour pork all the time!

We ordered the juicy pork buns, and because we have a non-beef/pork eater, we also ordered vegetable buns. The pork buns were not as overly oily as I've tried at other places, which was nice. The vegetable buns were very interesting: the filling was sweet! It was as if they add sugar instead of salt by accident or something.

We also had a chicken dish cooked with alcohol, hot and sour seafood soup, and sui choy with butter sauce.

Finished the meal with cirspy pancake with red bean paste. Very nice!

Oh yeah, for those of you interested in those pork buns, I found out that they sell them uncooked too! Same price as the steamed ones, 6 for $3.60 (I think).

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Pleased to see people trying and liking Shanghai Wind. Just don't forget, it's our little secret.

Saw two interesting/strange/weird dishes there last week, was hoping someone could help with a little background. First was "Crispy rice" which looked like large flat sheets of rice crispies, broken and eaten like a giant taco chip dipped into soup. The second was meatballs, straight outta Nick Spaghetti, two bocce ball sized orbs in a hotpot surrounded by bok choi. Has anyone ever heard of these? I've never seen them before.

My problem is we always go at 5:30, in order to ensure a table along with the first wave of customers and other tables don't have food as they're just ordering too. Ineveitably whatever they're having next to us looks about a million times better than what we're having.

And one last point about Shang Hai wind. Where do elderly chinese get thier constitutions? The place is a huant for older couples, inevitably frail and tiny individuals, they always without exception order more than our family of four, and finish everthing. Whole fish, noodles, soup, appetizers, meat entree, the whole deal. Gone. It's almost like Ling has inherieted her ability from a grandmother somewhere.

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Pleased to see people trying and liking Shanghai Wind. Just don't forget, it's our little secret.

Saw two interesting/strange/weird dishes there last week, was hoping someone could help with a little background. First was "Crispy rice" which looked like large flat sheets of rice crispies, broken and eaten like a giant taco chip dipped into soup. The second was meatballs, straight outta Nick Spaghetti, two bocce ball sized orbs in a hotpot surrounded by bok choi. Has anyone ever heard of these? I've never seen them before.

The crispy rice dish is called wo-bah (okay this is the cantonese transliteration) - it is basically rice crispies that should be crazy piping hot and then a sauce is poured over it. The sauce can be seafood based or whatever - it should be fairly lightly flavored so that it does not overwhelm the crispy toasty rice. You may want to try it instead of the usual fried rice / noodle starch. Kids tend to really like it.

The meatballs - that I think you are refering too is called 'lions head' because of the shaggy look of the bok choi. They are usually a slow braised pork meatball that is quite rich - served with a rich brown sauce over vegetables. I really love the stuff - you have it with a bowl of plain rice.. mmmmmmm mmmmmm goodness!!!

Both of the these items are classic Shanghainese dishes.

I was at Shanghai Wind last week - and it was good. Real good. Note - no pictures, no chatty commentary, no nothing - the place is busy enough. You guys are on your own.

That being said - I think that I liked the soup buns better at the now defunct Shanghai Yan Yun better - the Shanghai Wind ones have a slightly cured ham flavour and I preferred the cleaner pork taste of the old place... perhaps nostalgia is fogging my judgment....

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The weekly Ukranians-do-Asian dinner saw us at Kedah House the other night. We ordered a mix of chicken and beef satay, roti, lamb biryani, mee goreng m____ (can't remember the last word in the name), beef teriyaki and chicken curry. All of the dishes were outstanding, and I'm quite pleased that I got to take home the leftovers :biggrin: The lamb biryani was probably my favourite dish - it arrives on the table and you just see rice, then when you dip your spoon in, you find a massive culinary treasure trove of large, soft, perfectly spiced lamb chunks underneath. Everything else was fantastic, with the beef teriyaki and mee goreng getting high marks from other members of the Cat family.

Service was courtesy who I would assume to be the daughter, who was very sweet. She explained all the different noodle options to my noodle-crazed Dad with much patience :smile:

All in all, a great place. Dinner for 5 (with leftovers!) before tip was $49.

Jenn

"She's not that kind of a girl, Booger!"

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For the crispy rice dish, my friends and I prefer pouring our own sauce and eat it right away, or having them separate and then dip the crispy rice in sauce ourselves, otherwise you get these soggy/mushy rice mess. But some people like that. Definitely try it if you are adventurous!

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Canuckle and Hue, thanks for the help.

The crispy rice was being dipped into soup, which looked like a slightly thickened seafood base, not particularly appealing to my pallette, dip it into dan dan noodle sauce however would be another matter. are the accompanying flavours open to interpretation, or is there a tradition crispy rice dip/suace?

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Pleased to see people trying and liking Shanghai Wind. Just don't forget, it's our little secret.

We got out to Shanghai Wind yesterday for lunch. A moderate lunch. Just dumplings and salad. Soup dumplings, steamed vegetable dumplings, fried dumplings, onion cake and snow pea leaves/garlic (aka by the waitress 'Bean Leaves'). Waitress stopped me from ordering more. She was right, but she destroyed my plan to order more of the core ouevre: Lions Head, Pork Belly with greens, Tienstin Dumplings, silky tofu, rabbit, fish etc. Sigh.

Deserving of the ultimate accolade: good clean food, home cooking at its finest.

Shanghai Wind and Pnomh Penh (sp?) have been off the charts this week.

Speaking of Pnomh Penh, evocative of Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas for wonderfulness. Two visits. Second visit, if anything, better than the first. Seaweed soup, with the rich broth, squid balls and fish balls. Top notch oyster pancake. Had to have the spicy garlic squid again--waitress arranged a half order. What brought LOS to mind was the Lap Kapip--'spicy pork', from the specials page. Very similar to an Issan (northern Thai) Larb. Served hot in a bowl in a chile laden sauce which was moderately spicy but I suspect toned down from what it might be, but unlike an Issan larb moderated with a touch of coconut milk, with raw vegetables cucumber and cabbage.

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Well I'm pleased to report that last night a group of us went to Sea Harbour (previously refered to as the Super Happy Misleading Rising Sun restaurant) - and it was great. I'm sure Steve or Mooshmouse will post more incl pix, but my personal favourites were the blanched (or so Canucklehead says, I always thought they were steamed) spotted prawns with chili soy dip, the pork belly, and the crab with Japanese pumpkin.

Steamed / blanched prawns are a perennial favourite of mine; some said the flavour was the most "bland" of the evening, but I don't agree - or at least that is not the description I would use. It is a very simple preparation for a very simple presentation of flavour: prawn. That's all you get. Until you dip it into the soy, that is. I love prawns, and I love this. I could easily eat at least 2 lbs at one go.

Pork belly - another perennial favourite. Tender juicy braised pork belly, what's not to love? This version was actually different from what I've had in the past, but I think that I've previously had a more Northern preparation - a lot more soy involved in all the previous versions I've eaten, and no green veg. Or maybe they used to be green but have had all the colour / texture braised out of them? I really don't know which one is the "original" because we never ate this when I was a kid (strictly Cantonese food in youth). So probably the soy version.

The crab was cooked to perfection. It was so soft / tender / flaky inside, just over the border of cooked but not yet into the "rubbery" or "clumpy" realm. Does that make sense? The pumpkin chunks I didn't care for much, but the sauce they melted into was a very nice - and different - accompaniment to the crab. Luxurious texture.

The one "weird" thing of the night was the deboned goose feet. I tried a couple, not exactly my cup of tea as they say. Weird final flavour, kind of peppery? maybe, I found it undescribe-able. Jellyfish still rules IMO.

For a table of 9, the total bill including tip was $40 per person. When you consider that we got somewhere around 10 courses of high-quality food, plus a round of beers, I say that is Super Happy Cheap.

Anyway it was great to meet the Druckers (the comment on PaoPao's beloved Mother, "Of course, she's weird. She owns a health food store!" No disrespect to her, but that was gold.) And thanks Lee - you did a stellar job of being the table elder and ordering. Obviously I have to work on my table junior tea pouring role. Cheers!

Oh and PS: They do have some English, not on the main storefront sign, but on the sign you can see while driving on No.3 Road. So there you go - everyone is welcome. :wink:

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The place is a huant for older couples, inevitably frail and tiny individuals, they always without exception order more than our family of four, and finish everthing. Whole fish, noodles, soup, appetizers, meat entree, the whole deal. Gone. It's almost like Ling has inherieted her ability from a grandmother somewhere.

I've never met Ling, but skinny people with low body fat have more room for their stomachs to distend. That's why they can pack down so much in one seating.

(Keywords: "competitive eating" "Takeru Kobayashi")

Edited by sanrensho (log)
Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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Well I'm pleased to report that last night a group of us went to Sea Harbour (previously refered to as the Super Happy Misleading Rising Sun restaurant) - and it was great...

For a table of 9, the total bill including tip was $40 per person. When you consider that we got somewhere around 10 courses of high-quality food, plus a round of beers, I say that is Super Happy Cheap.

Anyway it was great to meet the Druckers (the comment on PaoPao's beloved Mother, "Of course, she's weird. She owns a health food store!" No disrespect to her, but that was gold.) And thanks Lee - you did a stellar job of being the table elder and ordering. Obviously I have to work on my table junior tea pouring role. Cheers!

Ditto to your entire post Brian. Dinner photos and comments are posted in my Foodblog for this week.

Props to you Lee -- you're a phenomenal host! :wub:

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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Well I'm pleased to report that last night a group of us went to Sea Harbour (previously refered to as the Super Happy Misleading Rising Sun restaurant) - and it was great. I'm sure Steve or Mooshmouse will post more incl pix, but my personal favourites were the blanched (or so Canucklehead says, I always thought they were steamed) spotted prawns with chili soy dip, the pork belly, and the crab with Japanese pumpkin.

Steamed / blanched prawns are a perennial favourite of mine; some said the flavour was the most "bland" of the evening, but I don't agree - or at least that is not the description I would use. It is a very simple preparation for a very simple presentation of flavour: prawn. That's all you get. Until you dip it into the soy, that is. I love prawns, and I love this. I could easily eat at least 2 lbs at one go.

Pork belly - another perennial favourite. Tender juicy braised pork belly, what's not to love? This version was actually different from what I've had in the past, but I think that I've previously had a more Northern preparation - a lot more soy involved in all the previous versions I've eaten, and no green veg. Or maybe they used to be green but have had all the colour / texture braised out of them? I really don't know which one is the "original" because we never ate this when I was a kid (strictly Cantonese food in youth). So probably the soy version.

The crab was cooked to perfection. It was so soft / tender / flaky inside, just over the border of cooked but not yet into the "rubbery" or "clumpy" realm. Does that make sense? The pumpkin chunks I didn't care for much, but the sauce they melted into was a very nice - and different - accompaniment to the crab. Luxurious texture.

The one "weird" thing of the night was the deboned goose feet. I tried a couple, not exactly my cup of tea as they say. Weird final flavour, kind of peppery? maybe, I found it undescribe-able. Jellyfish still rules IMO.

For a table of 9, the total bill including tip was $40 per person. When you consider that we got somewhere around 10 courses of high-quality food, plus a round of beers, I say that is Super Happy Cheap.

Anyway it was great to meet the Druckers (the comment on PaoPao's beloved Mother, "Of course, she's weird. She owns a health food store!" No disrespect to her, but that was gold.) And thanks Lee - you did a stellar job of being the table elder and ordering. Obviously I have to work on my table junior tea pouring role. Cheers!

Oh and PS: They do have some English, not on the main storefront sign, but on the sign you can see while driving on No.3 Road. So there you go - everyone is welcome. :wink:

Don't even worry about it, knowing her it's a statement Mom would be proud of......

Big props to Lee for arranging such a treat of an evening ... lets do it again!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well - I've got a ton of stuff to do at work - but instead, I decided to check out the two big Richmond Contenders for best soup bun:

Shanghai Wind vs. Shanghai River

Battle Soup Buns

Now - I have always gotten the places mixed up. But they are very different from eachother.

Shanghai Wind Soup Buns

gallery_25348_1373_3236.jpg

Shanghai Wind 'Two in One' soup

gallery_25348_1373_2461.jpg

Shanghai Wind is a small little place that seems to be fully run by Shanghainese people. It is all very rustic and the food there seems to be at its best when it is focused on 'homestyle'. The soup buns were great (none of that 'ham' taste this time) - plump full of good soupyness. Excellent skin - strong enough to hold it all together - but thin enough to let the filling take center stage. They were really excellent. I also order something called 'two in one' soup - basically a broth with delicate bean thread and two different kinds of meatballs and vegatables. Oh - really good - warm, comforting, very very homey.

Shanghai Wind's (english) menu is so incredibly difficult to decipher. I kept an eye on other tables and got the soup - basically by pointing at someone else's order at another table.

Well - I thought - this is over before it even began. I mean - Shanghai Wind is popular for good reason. How could Shanghai River compete? It was looking like a TKO man.

Shanghai River Soup Buns

gallery_25348_1373_237.jpg

Shanghai River - Pork in Sesame Cake

gallery_25348_1373_1709.jpg

First off - Shanghai River is a great looking restaraunt - big tall ceilings, clean tableclothes, a ton of staff, and a glass enclosure so that you can watch your buns being made. The HK side of me took an immeadiate liking to it - not surprising as it is HK staff run - but the chefs are from Shanghai.

The soup buns - were really good also. Smaller and with a more delicate filling - but the flavor was stronger - with an almost black pepper finish. The skins were also very delicate - really gossamer holding in all of that soupy goodness. The skins broke on a couple of my dumplings - and you could see that they use a strong soup base inside the dumping (the soup was almost golden in color). Definitely a restaurant style dumpling.

The sesame pork thingy was awesome. Ground pork napped in an onion and hoisin based sauce - served in a crispy sesame pastry. Good Good Good. This place specializes in a range of little bites like this (the menu proclaims 'King of Dim Sum'). The menu is very easy to read - lots of pictures and english translations that make sense (at least to me).

Surprisingly - both places are similarly priced - so the value equation was strong at both places.

Shanghai River has really civilized surroundings and their dim sum list (shanghainese style) is something that I will check out again. But - the soup dumplings were a bit better (I like homestyle) at Shanghai Wind.

I declare ---- a TIE!!

Well - really I was the winner - I ate 14 dumplings, powered my way through three bowls of soup, and had two pieces of the pork sesame cake.

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Well - I've got a ton of stuff to do at work - but instead, I decided to check out the two big Richmond Contenders for best soup bun:

Shanghai Wind vs. Shanghai River

Battle Soup Buns

Now - I have always gotten the places mixed up.  But they are very different from eachother. 

Shanghai Wind Soup Buns

gallery_25348_1373_3236.jpg

Shanghai Wind 'Two in One' soup

gallery_25348_1373_2461.jpg

Shanghai Wind is a small little place that seems to be fully run by Shanghainese people.  It is all very rustic and the food there seems to be at its best when it is focused on 'homestyle'.  The soup buns were great (none of that 'ham' taste this time) - plump full of good soupyness.  Excellent skin - strong enough to hold it all together - but thin enough to let the filling take center stage.  They were really excellent.  I also order something called 'two in one' soup - basically a broth with delicate bean thread and two different kinds of meatballs and vegatables.  Oh - really good - warm, comforting, very very homey.

Shanghai Wind's (english) menu is so incredibly difficult to decipher.  I kept an eye on other tables and got the soup - basically by pointing at someone else's order at another table.

Well - I thought - this is over before it even began.  I mean - Shanghai Wind is popular for good reason.  How could Shanghai River compete? It was looking like a TKO man.

Shanghai River Soup Buns

gallery_25348_1373_237.jpg

Shanghai River - Pork in Sesame Cake

gallery_25348_1373_1709.jpg

First off - Shanghai River is a great looking restaraunt - big tall ceilings, clean tableclothes, a ton of staff, and a glass enclosure so that you can watch your buns being made.  The HK side of me took an immeadiate liking to it - not surprising as it is HK staff run - but the chefs are from Shanghai.

The soup buns - were really good also.  Smaller and with a more delicate filling - but the flavor was stronger - with an almost black pepper finish.  The skins were also very delicate - really gossamer holding in all of that soupy goodness.  The skins broke on a couple of my dumplings - and you could see that they use a strong soup base inside the dumping (the soup was almost golden in color). Definitely a restaurant style dumpling.

The sesame pork thingy was awesome.  Ground pork napped in an onion and hoisin based sauce - served in a crispy sesame pastry.  Good Good Good.  This place specializes in a range of little bites like this (the menu proclaims 'King of Dim Sum').  The menu is very easy to read - lots of pictures and english translations that make sense (at least to me).

Surprisingly - both places are similarly priced - so the value equation was strong at both places. 

Shanghai River has really civilized surroundings and their dim sum list (shanghainese style) is something that I will check out again.  But - the soup dumplings were a bit better (I like homestyle) at Shanghai Wind.

I declare ---- a TIE!!

Well - really I was the winner - I ate 14 dumplings, powered my way through three bowls of soup, and had two pieces of the pork sesame cake.

umm....maybe we should have a group tasting to try and break this tie! :biggrin:

btw, kudos to you for knocking back 14 dumplings and the soup and the sesame cake!!

Edited by makanmakan (log)

Quentina

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I tried a hole-in-the-wall (around 10 tables covered with cheap plastic) restaurant in Port Coquitlam last night and was impressed. It's called PoCo Ocean Restaurant and is in the same strip mall as Mayan Art Cafe but on the opposite side and around the corner from Pier 1. There's an English menu, but the best items are on a dry erase board and written only in Chinese. The waitress told us that they are well known for two dishes -- a large piece of pork and soy sauce fish. Not exactly appetizing descriptions, but we thought we'd give them a try. The pork was a large pork hock braised to perfection. The fat and skin melted on the tongue, and the meat fell right off the bone and silky soft. The soy sauce fish was lightly coated, garlicky fried fish fillets. I thought it was tilapia, but my parents thought it was something else. There's no sauce. It's somewhat like salt and pepper shrimp but more garlicky and less spicy although you can ask for the dish to be made more spicy. The coating (egg white?) was nice and light and the dish was not greasy at all. Our vegetables for the night were ordered from the English menu, "abalone" mushrooms with stir fried vegetables. I really enjoyed this dish. The mushrooms have a vanilla and mocha taste, and the vegetables, mostly gai lan and bok choy, were very fresh. All the dishes were seasoned exactly to my taste, not the least bit salty, no overly seasoned sauces masking the flavours of the meat and vegetables. If any of you happen to wander out this way, give the place a try. Definitely a better alternative to Hon's which is across the street.

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