Ho Yuen Kee

My friend Nikita and Bluebeard really like their Asian food. If it were another life, Nikita would've been born Asian. When she declared that she wanted Peking Duck, we all decided to meet for dinner. Herbie the Lovebug chose the restaurant and made the reservation. He even reserved the Peking Duck. This is actually a good idea, because restaurants only prepare a certain amount per night. The destination was Ho Yuen Kee. Coincidentally, Holly (a loyal reader) left a comment recently tipping me off that there were some really good wontons to be found here. We decided to only bring my daughter to this meal since my son doesn't like anything other than chocolate and chips.

We were a bit late getting to the restaurant and everyone was already at the table waiting for us. The problem? Getting through the crowd of people at the front of the restaurant! For the life of me, I cannot understand people lining up at a Chinese restaurant. They don't move! It's like they have grown roots and are firmly planted to the oil-soaked carpet they are standing on. Would it be too much trouble to let someone through? Especially with a kid in tow? Anyways, this was further exemplified later, when a server was trying to bring food to a table and people who were leaving blocked her path. The server had to excuse herself 3 times before people moved. Is this Richmond? Do people walk like they drive? No wonder we get a bad reputation! It gets even better. Finally settling at our table, we brought our own booster and didn't need the existing high chair. I was carefully trying to remove it but the lady at the next table had pushed her chair so far back, it wedged it in. Now, while trying to unwedge it, she noticed me doing so; but did not move her chair. In fact, she seemed annoyed! Well, maybe it would've been easier for me if you didn't sit on the front end of your chair and pushed your chair in. No wonder I hate going to small Chinese restaurants.

When we finally got down to ordering, we decided on a few dishes and soup to complement the 2-course Peking Duck. We started off with a Fish Maw and Crab Meat Soup. I guess Nikita and Bluebeard were not aware of what exactly was fish maw. After I explained it was the air bladder that had been fried, then boiled, she gave a strange face. I exclaimed that at least it only contained air! The soup itself was very lightly seasoned chicken broth. There were some pieces of crab meat; but a whole lot of fish maw. I would've preferred if the fish maw was cooked a bit longer because it was not very soft.

After the soup, the 2 courses of the Peking Duck arrived. First up was the crispy skin with steamed flour crepes. The skin was indeed crispy and although the crepes were soft, they were a bit thick. We were impressed with the amount of duck meat in the Lettuce Wrap. Usually some places short change you on the amount of duck meat and add lots of filler. As you can see in the picture, there are large chunks of duck meat with only a modest amount of crispy wonton pieces, onion, water chestnut and peppers. This dish was a winner. Now, the next dish was supposed to be Peking Pork Chops. Instead, we got Sweet and Sour Spareribs. We complained that we had received the wrong dish; however, the manager came over and explained that when we ordered "Ging Doh Gwut", it means Sweet and Sour Spareribs. Uh... in our entire lives, none of us at the table had ever received Sweet and Sour Spareribs when we ordered "Ging Doh Gwut". In fact, the Chinese name for Sweet and Sour Spareribs is "Seun Teem Pai Gwut". Furthermore, if it really was correct, the sauce would've been a Peking sauce which is more robust with the addition of Worschester sauce. The best analogy I could come up for this situation is if you ordered a "Filet" at a steakhouse. Of course, they would understand that you had ordered a Filet Mignon. In the situation at Ho Yuen Kee, it was the equivalent of giving us a Sirloin instead. The manager either had lost his marbles or was doing a very poor job in trying to cover up a mistake. We were not impressed.

The next dish was Gai Lan with Beef. Practically covered with tender well-seasoned beef, the gai lan (Chinese broccoli) was crisp and cooked just right. Not shown in the picture were many half pieces of straw mushrooms. Bluebeard was not really sure what they were; but questioned why they looked like "uncircumcised" mushrooms. Honestly, I've never looked at straw mushrooms in that light. Now, I will never look at straw mushrooms in the same manner again! Next dish was Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp. We substituted the green onions for flowering chives instead. The manager was so proud that they got this right, he made it clear to us. You gotta love Chinese restaurant attitude! Last dish was the Satay Beef with Vermicelli. Again, lots of beef and good flavour. But the vermicelli was too soft and mushy.

For dessert we got Sweet Green Pea Soup. Trust me, it tastes better than it sounds or looks. To satisfy my wonton curiosity, I ordered a wonton soup to go. 20 minutes pass, remind waitress, no soup. 40 minutes pass, remind waitress, no soup. Are they like peeling the shrimp and making the wontons back there??? After a third try, we finally got it and THEY actually seemed annoyed. WTF? Well, Holly was right though, the extremely large wontons were packed with crunchy shrimp. Probably the best I've had in the GVRD so far. Despite this, we were quite annoyed at the service from this place. It's like they really couldn't give a rat's ass about the customer. Not only did the manager try to cover up a mistake, they did not even apologize for our 40 minute wait for wontons. Therefore, I'm not sure if I would go back and suffer more abuse. I realize Chinese restaurants can be this way; but all I want is basic service with no attitude.

The Good:
- Pretty decent food
- Excellent wontons
- Food comes out fast (except for wonton soup!)

The Bad:
- Arguing with customers
- Not admitting that they are wrong
- Tight table arrangements