Dinesty

After 2 weeks of no softball, I was pretty anxious to play again. After all, we go out as a team to eat afterwords! Trying to be kinder to the environment, I left the SUV at home and drove the smaller car to pick up Milhouse and Boss Woman along the way. Judes continued the earth-friendly trend by picking up Miss Y as well. In reality, the best thing about it was that Judes ensured Miss Y would not get lost and arrive on time. Having our whole team there, we actually got the game started on time. Too bad I got hit hard in the thigh by a shot back up to the mound. Luck would have it, Silent Bob, who is our power hitter, would the one to slam a softball at me. Didn't matter though, I knew that food would keep my mind off the pain. Bear suggested we go to Dinesty for some Shanghainese food. Well, since we were at Churchill, it seemed reasonable, we weren't far from Richmond anyways. OMG, Richmond again? What is wrong with me? So we get to the parking lot and I do a couple of circles looking for a parking spot. Boss Woman points out that I may have cut off someone while making a turn. Well, when in Rome... Do what the Romans do. If I can't beat them, I'm going to join them! Hey, I ended up with a really good parking spot! Oh no... I really am being assimilated into Richmondness! Wendy (Eat `n About) and Ben (Chowtimes) must be snickering right now...

Since we came straight from softball, we all needed to cleanup in the washroom. One thing that struck me about the washrooms was the pair of shoes and ladder against a wall. Interesting. Similar to Tomoya, the washroom doubles as a storage room. Returning to the table, I think it took us 20 minutes to decide on what to order. I think it was a combination of everyone being polite and the fact there were too many choices. Finally, we settled for the following: Shredded Pork in Hoisin Sauce with Pancakes, Sang Jeen Bao (Pan-Fried Dumplings), So Ngor (Bean Curd Mushroom Roll), Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Juicy Buns), Seafood Fried Noodles, Egg Omlete with Pickle, Ja Jeun Mein (Noodles with Homemade Sauce), Chow Neen Goh (Stir-Fried Rice Cake) and Cold Cucumbers in Garlic Sauce. We actually wrote them all down and Boss Woman tried ordering in English; but things got a little lost in translation. Turns out I should have just ordered everything in Chinese.

We started with the shredded pork and pancakes. Although there were julienne cucumbers and scallions underneath the pork, it wasn't substantial. Therefore, this was one really large plate of meat without much filler. We got another order of pancakes because the 6 that came with the dish were insufficient for the amount of meat. This dish was very good. The pork was tender and had enough hoisin sauce to flavour. However, as we got to the bottom, it became really oily and those last wraps became quite translucent. After that, the food came really fast and furious. I was having a hard time keeping up with the pictures. Moreover, when there are 5 other very hungry people around, their patience wears thin when someone wants them to wait for photos.

The pan-fried dumplings looked quite good. However, they were not as crispy as they looked.
Mind you, they did taste pretty good, the meat was plentiful and well-seasoned. I know true purists of Shanghainese food might have a beef with me for saying this; but I believe that the best sang jeen bao are at Victoria Restaurant. On the other hand, the fried mushroom bean curd roll was really good. It had a nice crispy skin wrapped around soft layers of bean curd sheets. In the middle of the roll, there was an abundance of sweet shitake mushroom pieces. This dish is mostly about textures and it was a perfect balance of crispy, soft and chewy.

Okay, when at a Shanghainese restaurant, it is almost mandatory that you order the xiao long bao. Well, we went a step further and ordered 2 steamers. The xiao long bao at Dinesty were pretty good. They were juicy and the skin was quite thin. Miss Y had an epic fail with her xiao long bao. Milhouse had the right technique. When in doubt, use your spoon to help remove the xiao long bao from the steamer. While the xiao long baos were good, the seafood fried noodles were not. Judes and I were trying to figure out if the noodles were supposed to be mushy or not. We assumed that it shouldn't have been. Thus, the dish was a mushy mesh. However, the flavours were good though. It was a bit sweet and you could taste the seafood. I'm not sure how many eggs they used in the omelet; but I'm sure it was a lot. The thing was very large, not particularly in diameter; rather in thickness. It was a pleasant dish to eat, with hits of pickled zing throughout the omelet. I'm not sure I'd order this again though, it was not that memorable.

One dish I really pushed for was the ja jeun mein, aka, noodles with meat sauce, julienne cucumbers and egg. The funny thing about this dish was that I didn't notice much meat in the sauce; rather it was mostly tofu. Did we order the vegetarian one by mistake? Anyways, I thought this version was okay; but nothing special. The noodles were a bit thick and the sauce was a little on the bland side. It did have enough spice; yet lacked in the savory department. Where this dish lacked flavour and texture, the stir-fried rice cakes did not. The rice cake slices had the perfect texture - soft and chewy at the same time. In addition, there was not shortage of pork and preserved vegetables. This really helped flavour the dish, as it was well-seasoned. This is important with this dish since the rice cakes have no flavour of their own. The last dish was the cold cucumbers in garlic sauce. Judes, Milhouse and I mostly ate this dish and we all agreed that it was quite spicy. We tried to figure out where the spice was coming from. We could see the ample pieces of garlic and red chili peppers; but we didn't notice the culprit until the end. Hidden among the green cucumbers were small slivers of green chili pepper. I liked this dish, the cucumbers had some crunch and there was no shortage of flavour.

I must hand it to Bear, he really has some good ideas for restaurants. The food at Dinesty was solid. Not everything was great, but overall it was well seasoned and portioned. Moreover, the prices are very reasonable. The service was good for this type of restaurant and the dining space was modern and spacious. So, this was Richmond 2 days in a row and I'm planning on coming back on Saturday. Hell has really frozen over.

The Good:
- Tasty food and decent portions
- Reasonable prices
- Spacious and comfortable dining space

The Bad:
- Parking lot is always full
- Can be quite busy

Business Hours:
11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri)
10:00am - 10:00pm (Sat & Sun)