Lu Charcoal Grill

It isn't very hard to find Northern Chinese BBQ skewers in the Lower Mainland.  There was an explosion of spots in the past 10 years starting with Happy Tree out on Kingsway (there are more, but this is the most well-known one).  For me, it has been awhile since I've had Chinese BBQ skewers.  This is partly because you can really start spending a pretty penny when you over-order.  That is quite easy to do when there are minimum amounts such as 5 or even 10 skewers of specific meats.  Recently, I visited Lu Charcoal Grill in Richmond that not only has no minimum per skewer, their pricing is rather reasonable too.

Unlike many other skewer spots, you do not order from a menu or order sheet.  Rather, you walk up to the refrigerated area where all the skewers are ready for you to choose.  Take as many or little as you want, pass to the servers and the kitchen will seasoned and BBQ them.  As you can see in the picture, there is a good selection including pork intestines, spicy beef, beef tongue, chicken gizzards, pork rib, chicken wing, beef, lamb, chicken, pork belly, chicken heart, chicken cartilage, enoki, chives, tofu, steamed buns, bread, corn, sausage, chicken feet, snake fish and beef aorta.  Not only are the prices reasonable, I felt that the amount of each skewer was more than sufficient.

Once BBQ'd, the servers bring the skewers out and place them on the platter that is kept warm with lit tea candles.  I thought the skewers were more or less cooked properly keeping the meat tender while having a slightly crispy exterior with caramelized spices.  My favourites included the pork intestines as they were tender with a chew.  Loved the thick cut.  Beef tongue was also good with a tender chewiness.  Good amount of spice and seasoning on it.  Chicken wing featured rendered skin and juicy meat.  Also enjoyed the chicken heart and chicken gizzards as they provided an appealing chewiness while not being dry.  I wasn't as enthused about the corn though as it wasn't plump.

In addition to the skewers, we also had a variety of dishes including the impressive Seafood platter.  It consisted of scallops, shrimp, clams, abalone and cuttlefish.  I think these are usually separate orders, but they combined it all into one platter.  The seafood got plenty of garlic and that meant things were flavourful.  Underneath, we found a mess of mung bean noodles, that had soaked up all of the delicious garlic and seafood juices.  That was probably even better than the seafood!  However, let's be real, this was all about the seafood and they were cooked just right with butter clams, scallops and cuttlefish.  The abalone was firm with its classic chew.

So we also got the new Tomato Egg Noodle Soup served in a hot claypot.  This came out bubbling and was filled to the brim with tender lai fun and a wealth of fluffy egg and tomato.  I thought the broth was not particularly tomatoey but it did have the aftertaste.  It was more mild and brothy with equal parts savouriness and sweetness.  I found the noodles to be fairly al dente while slippery.  The fluffy egg is what made this dish as it added so much texture.

Another bubbling claypot was the Seafood Pork Claypot with sauerkraut.  At first, I was confused why the broth was tangy, but double-checking the ingredients yielded pickled napa cabbage.  That made things rather appetizing and helped lighten the heaviness of the pork belly.  In that sense, the broth was fairly light and was not devoid of various flavours.  Cabbage was tender while not overdone and the shrimp on top were meaty and sweet.

Accompanying our skewer and seafood fest, we had some smaller plates to supplement as well.  This included the Chicken Nuggets and the Fried Stinky Tofu.  Although the chicken was heavily battered, it wasn't as dense as it appeared.  Rather, the exterior was crunchy while giving way to tender chicken.  It was fairly well-seasoned too.  As for the stinky tofu, it was indeed pretty sharp.  I don't mind eating it as long as it isn't super pungent.  This one was bordering on that, but I did enjoy the aroma and crispiness.

As our defacto veggies for the meal, we had the Garlic Cucumbers and the Deep Fried Taiwanese Cauliflower.  Crunchy and full of garlicky spiciness, the cucumbers were a nice interlude between skewers.  As for the cauliflower, they were crispy with some peppery salt.  They were fully cooked, but still had a crunch.  Overall, the food at Lu Charcoal Grill was tasty and well-priced.  It is a little more on the rustic side, so don't expect refinement.  But that is the draw here.  The food isn't complex, but it is served in generous portions and is generally delicious.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Fair pricing
- Generous portion sizes including the meaty skewers
- Seafood is fresh

The Bad:
- Tomato soup could've been more impactful
- Possibly put some saran wrap over the skewers to keep them fresh?