Sherman's Food Adventures: Yue Delicacy

Yue Delicacy

In the past 8 years, I've tried to hit up all the possible Dim Sum spots.  Sometimes, it has involved re-visits and multiple name changes of the same location.  However, there are a few left in Richmond that I just never have got around to.  Yes, I've visited those as part of the Chinese Restaurant Awards, but never a regular sit down visit.  As much as I make fun of Richmond and its traffic hell (which is actually true), there is no escaping that the best Chinese eats are located there.  So with that in mind, we braved the land of poorly driven luxury vehicles for a visit to Yue Delicacy.

The first plate to arrive was the Baked BBQ Pork Pastries.  I wasn't a big fan of this one as the actual pastry was dense and not very flaky.  It almost seemed underbaked on the inside and/or there was not enough lard added.  On the positive side, the BBQ pork filling was lean and well-balanced being not too sweet.  Next was the one offal dish, Tripe with Satay Sauce of the meal (as only Marley expressed interest in sharing it).  This was well-prepared with tender slices of tripe that retained a slight chewiness.  The satay notes were rather mild, yet at the same time, the dish was far from being underseasoned.  I enjoyed both the crunch and aromatics from the fried garlic on top.

Last year, I helped vote in the Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) at Yue Delicacy as the best in Metro Vancouver.  This time around, I found them to be good, but slightly overdone.  Hence, the skin was wet and falling apart on contact.  However, the filling was on point with buttery and almost juicy whole shrimp.  There was the desired cold-water snap to go along with just the right amount of balanced seasoning including a hint of sesame oil.  Doubling up on the BBQ pork, we also had the BBQ Pork Buns.  Seeing how they employed the same balanced filling from the pastries, there were no complaints about the lean pork inside.  As for the bun itself, it was fairly light and fluffy with a bit of resistance.

Continuing the trend of using black truffle in Chinese cooking, their Truffle Sui Mai looked rather similar to the ones at Chef Tony.  They were not exactly the same, but at the same time, they were good in their own right.  Consisting of bouncy chunks of pork combined with cold-water shrimp, the dumpling itself was subjected to balanced seasoning.  The extra hit of woodsy truffle on top worked in my opinion.  Hey what is Dim Sum without the dessert showing up midway through the meal?  Yes, we dug into the Egg Tarts as an interlude before more savoury items.  These were quite sweet but the textures were on point.  The tart shell was buttery and flaky while the egg custard filling was silky and just the right consistency.

By virtue of dried scallop on top, the Lo Mei Gai (Sticky Rice) was elevated from the usual version.  Add in some wild rice and the textures were varied between chewy and soft & glutinous.  A generous amount of lean sliced pork inhabited the middle as well as salted duck egg yolk.  Add up all the components and there was no lack of varied flavours.  Although the Beef Meatballs arrived with a considerable amount of green onion, it didn't overwhelm as expected.  Rather, there was some meatiness to the flavour as well as texturally.  The meat was not overprocessed to the point where it no longer could be classified as beef.  It did exhibit a nice bounce though.

Okay, back to dessert...  We had the Brown Sugar Sponge Cake to cut through the saltiness of the other dishes so far.  Oh this was money, as the cake was soft, fluffy and yes full of lard goodness.  The best part was the rich and deep toffee notes as well as the aromatics.  However, the cake itself was not overly sweet.  Interestingly, the Fried Eggplant stuffed with shrimp was not served with the typical black bean sauce.  Hence, the flavours were reliant on the shrimp.  It more or less did the job, but texturally the shrimp were rubbery.  On the other hand, the eggplant was on point being soft while not mushy.

Something that did have black bean was the Steamed Pork Spareribs.  It was also topped with the crunchy fried garlic.  We found there was a mixed between cartilage and rib pieces where the meat around the cartilage was a bit difficult to eat.  That was because the meat was on the chewier side.  Not a problem with the rib portions though.  The dish was definitely garlicky and salty enough.  Our last item was the Salmon and Shrimp Spring Rolls.  I don't recall ever having salmon in a spring roll before, but this one worked.  The salmon was cooked just enough and added an extra sweetness to the already sweet shrimp. Predictably, the final bill was not exactly cheap given the nice decor and attentive service.  However, if you want to splurge, Yue Delicacy offers up a more sophisticated Dim Sum experience.

The Good:
- Carefully made eats
- Excellent service
- Classy dining space

The Bad:
- Pricey
- Small dining room (hence a wait)
- Limited menu items

1 comments:

LotusRapper said...

"However, there are a few left in Richmond that I just never have got around to."

[GASP !!!]

;-)

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