Sherman's Food Adventures: Golden Lake

Golden Lake

At one point, meeting my mother-in-law for Dim Sum was akin to a full cavity search without lube.  Hence, my care meter for such as experience was a negative number, if that is possible.  We actually had gone to Golden Lake awhile back (before the Pelican disaster), but I decided not to write the post because of PTMS (post-traumatic MIL syndrome).  However, with Popper and Poppette wanting to meet for Dim Sum at the very same Golden Lake, I found my inspiration to write a post after all.

We haven't been back to Golden Lake since it had just opened, so this was a great opportunity to see if it was still as good as we had remembered. They left the ordering up to me, which was a mistake on their part.  All the food came at once and we had to resort to stacking.  I gave the Haw Gow a try first where the thin, slightly chewy skin gave way to large pieces of crunchy buttery shrimp exhibiting plenty of sesame oil. In theory, the Sui Mai were very good since the meat was moist and bouncy while the shrimp had a sweet snap.  However, there was far too much MSG which made the dumpling too flavourful.

Trying to dig through the mountain of food, I was able to sample the Spareribs with Crystal Noodles.  This was a large portion served in a hot pot (hence more expensive too).  The noodles were chewy while still moist while the garlicky and savoury sauce penetrated to the bottom of the pot.  As for the spareribs, they were meaty with some chew (yet with not much bounce).  The Fried Squid was both good and bad on one plate.  As for the good, the squid itself was tender with some snap while the batter was nicely seasoned.  The subsequent wok toss added some spice, however, most of the batter had slid off each piece.

Initially, I tried to pass the Fried Chicken Knees as nuggets to the kids.  No dice, oh well, it was worth a shot right?  These were really crunchy albeit greasy.  There was far too much baking powder which made the batter overwhelm the small pieces of chicken knees. Furthermore, the wok toss of peppers and salt did not really adhere either.  As much as I like different variations of certain dishes, I wasn't a huge fan of the seaweed in the Shrimp Spring Rolls.  If I have to do extra chewing past the crunchy exterior, in my mind that lessens the enjoyment.  Beyond that, the shrimp had a nice snap while the level of grease was quite high.

Moving on, I found the Bean Curd Skin Roll a touch firm, but still good though.  The filling featured bouncy pork mixed with a good amount of mushrooms and shrimp which helped "loosen" the firmness somewhat.  With just the right consistency, the sauce was flavourful without an over reliance on salt.  With an equally impactful sauce, the Stuffed Eggplant was another successful dish.  Normally, most black bean sauces are merely watered down atrocities, but this one tasted garlicky and savoury.  As for the eggplant, it was fried nicely being tender and not mushy.  The shrimp mousse had a nice bounce as well.

My son loved the Fried Taro Dumplings despite the inclusion of a Portuguese sauce.  I personally like the regular kind but this was okay as the flavours were quite mild.  The dumpling was fried properly and the taro was well-seasoned and soft.  And of course we had to get the Lo Mei Gai (Sticky Rice) for the kiddies.  They liked it as it was definitely glutinous and moist (maybe a tad too moist).  The plethora of ingredients ensured even more moisture and seasoning for the rice.  I found it to be relatively mild-tasting though.

Our last 2 savoury dishes were the XO Fried Daikon Pudding and the Xiao Long Bao.  For being fried, the cubes of daikon pudding were pretty soft while not particularly crispy.  Despite that, the grease level was kept to a minimum and the wok toss did infuse some spice.  As for the XLBs, they were respectable for a Cantonese restaurant.  The skin was relatively thin while the filling was loose and mushy.  Flavourwise, it tasted like a pork dumpling with a small amount of soup.  For dessert, we had the Egg Tarts which were pretty good, if not really buttery (or lardy).  The filling was rather light and only mildly sweet.  In the end, most of the food was pretty good with a few issues here and there.  Considering its location (where there is not a whole of other Dim Sum joints around), Golden Lake remains a decent option.

The Good:
- Decent Dim Sum for the area
- Lots of choice
- They have their own parking lot (albeit super tight)

The Bad:
- Not the most spacious of restaurants
- Not expensive, but not cheap either

Golden Lake Seafood Restaurant 湖濱海鮮酒家 on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

LotusRapper said...

"akin to a full cavity search without lube"

Are you speaking from experience ??

I'm telling ya, get the Nexus pass.

Sherman Chan said...

@LR Got a Nexus pass... actually time for renewal! Hope I don't get a cavity search then!

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