Sherman's Food Adventures: Lougheed Wonton House

Lougheed Wonton House

Another weekend meant another serving of Dim Sum.  But wait, what's this?  The kids were complaining about "Dim Sum again"...  Geez, #firstworldproblems right?  Hey, I don't remember having such a sentiment when I was at their age.  Talk about being spoiled and having too much choice!  Therefore, I took a stand as their father and stated we were having Dim Sum no matter what.  They'd have to suffer through multiple plates of yummy food as punishment.  Yah, that'll show them.  Such entitled little brats!

Since the kids were not feeling it for Dim Sum, I started them off with a bowl of Sliced Beef Congee.  This was a fairly watery broth that was more home-style due to the lack of seasoning.  In fact, the beef was bland as well.  Texturally, it was sufficiently tender due to being marinated (with the exception of seasoning).  At the end, the whole bowl was just a watery mess.  We got an order of the Salty Donut to go with the congee and it appeared to be re-fried.  Despite this, the exterior was nicely crisp while not particularly pleasing to look at.  Inside, it was on the doughier side, but it was not chewy nor dry.

I guess once they started eating, the kiddies got into it and had no problem downing the BBQ Pork Buns.  Sadly, these were really small with barely any filling.  The filling itself was not sauced enough, hence being dry.  It wasn't overly sweet though, but that was made up completely by the sweet bun.  Texturally, I found it rather dense and lacking in fluffiness.  Due to the thin exterior layer, the Custard Buns were softer and more moist.  Inside, the custard was semi-sweet where it was a touch mealy.  A bit more moisture would've gone a long way in creating a silkier texture.

Texture was the operative word for the Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) as it was really strange.  Beyond the chewy dumpling skin, the shrimp inside did not exhibit much shrimp-like attributes.  Due to the over-processing of the meat, the shrimp had a gummy-like feel which was rather rubbery.  Furthermore, I could not pick out any real flavours other than salt.  The Sui Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumplings) was not much better as there were big chunks of inedible pork fat strewn throughout each piece.  They needed to process it more into the meat.  About that meat, it didn't have much of a rebound texture, rather it was on the chewier side.  The little bits of shrimp inside were woefully overcooked and rubbery.

Oddly enough the large shrimp in the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll exhibited the desired snap texture.  However, they were obliterated by the excess amount of salt.  I could not even taste the soy sauce as it was overwhelmed by the seasoning.  As for the rice noodle itself, we found it soft and slightly wet.  With that being said, it was pretty good in relation to others we've had.  Also texturally wrong, the Pan Fried Daikon Radish Cake was too wet and soft.  Hence, when I picked it up, it fell apart on contact.  Possibly a more aggressive pan-fry could've helped the cause.  Futhermore, there was a lack of seasoning where I had to use copious amounts of hot sauce.

One dish that was impressive was the Stuffed Eggplant with Black Bean Sauce.  We found the eggplant to be fried just enough where it was soft while not overly mushy.  Moreover, the shrimp mousse filling was bouncy with bits of shrimp accenting the airy mousse.  The best part was the sauce as it looked and tasted like black bean and garlic.  With more garlic than black bean, the Steamed Spareribs were plenty garlicky.  Too bad it was super salty as well because the dish would've been spot on otherwise.  Texturally, the ribs were meaty with very little fat and cartilage while having a rebound.

For my offal dish, we had the Steamed Bible Tripe with ginger and onion.  This was mild-tasting with good hits of ginger and green onion.  I thought the tripe was on the chewier side and could've used a touch more tenderization.  However, I would take this over mushy any day.  Lastly, we had the Egg Tarts prepared in store-bought tart shells.  Naturally, this meant that they weren't flaky nor light.  As for the egg custard, it was super watery and overly sweet.  This was not very good.  In the end, I guess I should've listened to the kiddies as the Dim Sum at Lougheed Wonton was below-average.  Should've went for burgers instead...

The Good:
- Cheap
- Service efficient, yet not very attentive

The Bad:
- Dim Sum subpar
- Service efficient, yet not very attentive

Lougheed Wonton Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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