Luxe Chinese Seafood Restaurant

It's been like more than 11 years ago since I last had Dim Sum at Luxe Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Langley.   Well, the picture of the front is from 2015 since I forgot to take an updated one...  Anyways, the reason we came back here is that Guy Smiley lives nearby and this was the closest Dim Sum spot.  From what I remember, the Dim Sum is decent, especially for Willowbrook.

So they did away with the push carts and now we have to order with the server.   The first dish to hit the table was the Deep Fried Taro Dumplings.  This was a good version where the exterior was crispy and only moderately greasy.  Beyond that, the mashed taro was silky and well-seasoned.  Nice use of lard (yes, they use lard) mixed into it.  The ground pork filling was tender and mildly saucy.

One of our favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Baked BBQ Pork Pastries.  Sure, there is some good ol' lard in there, but that is what makes it good!  This one was indeed that with flaky & buttery layers.  It had a nice colour from the egg wash on the top.  Beyond the aromatic and nutty pastry, the BBQ pork filling was delicious.  It was sweet & savoury with chunks of lean BBQ pork.

After the pastries, there was a flurry of steamer baskets arriving including the Ha Gau (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings).  These were large and plump but the dumpling skin was a bit chewy.  I guess that was a whole lot better than being wet and mushy though.  Inside, the shrimp filling was decent with a meaty bounce texture.  It was well-seasoned with a good balance of flavours including the aromatic sesame oil.

Of course one cannot have the Ha Gau without the Siu Mai (Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings).  These were also rather large and stuffed full of bouncy sweet shrimp.  There was a good amount of it to compliment the chunks of pork.  I would've liked to see a bit more rebound with the pork as it was more on the meatier and dense side.  I liked how the tobiko on top was added after steaming and there was also some mushroom to provide earthy notes.

For those who don't know, I absolutely love offal and I was delighted we got both the Bible Tripe and Honeycomb Tripe.  Portion size on both were average compared to some others I've had lately.  Execution was pretty good as the bible tripe was soft with a tender chew.  Nice green onion and ginger notes.  The honeycomb tripe was pretty soft and didn't require much chewing.  Nice garlicky sweetness with a touch of spice.

One dish that could've been a bit better was the Steamed Chicken Feet.  The method here is to deep fry them first, then braise and finally steam.  I think theses were cooked a bit too long and hence, the skin was falling off in places.  However, being too soft is way better than being chewy.  The tendons and cartilage underneath were soft as well.  Flavour was good with garlic and spice.

I think the picture of the Beef Meatballs clearly shows how soft they were.  These were very fluffy and airy from the being in the mixer.  Naturally, the natural meat texture was non-existent, but that is the point of the dish though.  The combination of baking soda, starch and mixing create the fluffy meatballs.  These had a limited amount of greens, so it wasn't overwhelming.  If you like them airy, these would be your fancy.

One of the best dishes we had was the Steamed Pork Spareribs.  If you examine the picture above, you will notice most pieces were rib portions and short on the fatty ones.  The meat was marinated enough so that they were tenderized, yet still had a chew.  Nice rebound texture and the seasoning was on point with saltiness, garlickiness and spice.

For the kids, we got the Sticky Rice wrapped in lotus leaves. These were large and stuffed full of soft sticky rice.  Maybe there was a bit too much moisture as it was a tad mushy.  It didn't make or break the dish though as it was still tasty.  There was a plethora of ground pork that was sitting in a starch-thickened sauce.  That was enough to provide seasoning and meat into every bite.

Another favourite of mine is the Bean Curd Skin Rolls.  Happy to report the ones here were good.  The fried bean curd skin had a slightly chewy texture, yet was also tender.  Inside, the pork filling had a decent rebound, but was more meaty in texture.  Nice crunch from the veggies.  There was a bit of starch-thickened sauce, but not too much.  Maybe more oil than sauce (didn't mind that though).

For our choice of rice noodle roll, we went for the Beef Rice Noodle Roll.  As you can see in the picture above, they stuffed them full of whipped beef.  Texturally, the beef was light and airy like the beef meatballs.  As for the rice noodle itself, I would say it was quite thin yet a little on the firmer side.  There was still an appealing elasticity where the noodle didn't break on contact.

Surprisingly, my niece wanted the Deep Fried Squid Tentacles.  I guess it should've been obvious since she was getting in touch with her Taiwanese roots.  This dish was both good and bad.  The squid itself had an appealing chew and rebound.  However, the coating was a bit soggy in spots and was also rather uneven.  It did taste good though with a salty and garlicky spice.

We went for one of our go-to dishes in the XO Daikon Radish Cake.  However, I wasn't a huge fan of this.  For some reason, they wok-tossed the deep-fried cubes in a wet sauce (possibly soy sauce) and hence, the crispiness went away.  In fact, the texture was slimy and gummy, which was rather off-putting.  Normally, a wok-toss with just XO-sauce would've sufficed and since it is an oil-based sauce, it wouldn't have made the dish wet.

At the end, we got an order of the BBQ Pork Buns as well as the Egg Tarts.  Fluffy and light, the buns were texturally on point.  They were filled with the same lean BBQ pork found in the pastries.  As for the egg tarts, they were good.  The buttery and flaky puff pastry was fully-cooked through while the egg custard was silky and only semi-sweet.  Overall, the Dim Sum at Luxe is decent.  Sure, Richmond Dim Sum is better, but for Langley, Luxe continues to offer the best in the neighbourhood.

The Good:

- Solid Dim Sum for Langley

- Decent selection

- Fairly friendly service

The Bad:

- Not as good as ones found in Richmond, but great for Langley