Harbor Bay Village

So when it is Christmas, there are limited places to go and also limited places to eat.  However, if you know, you know that Chinese restaurants are generally open and hence, that is your best bet for Christmas Day or really any other holiday for all that matters.  So on our visit to the Bay Area, we followed this strategy and made our way to Harbor Bay Village.  Incidentally, this was also only a short 3 minute drive from our hotel.  Really, we should've just walked on over!

So we weren't sure what the protocol for service at this restaurant.  I say this because there seemed to be far too few employees for the size of the place.  We eventually got seated, but then again, we didn't get any tea or water.  That arrived much later and it was also difficult to get our order in as well.  Once that happened, we were served the BBQ Pork Pastries.  These were actually pretty good with flaky and buttery layers encasing lean BBQ pork in a sweet glaze.

One of the larger dishes we decided on was the Roast Duck.  It really was more deep fried than roasted, but I guess that is one way to reheat it.  Therefore, the skin was super crispy, but it also meant that the whole thing was pretty dry too.  Fortunately, some parts of the duck were still tender and moist (mainly the dark meat).  Another benefit of the deep fry was that the skin was well-rendered with barely any fat left.

For our choice of Rice Noodle Roll, we went for the prawn.  So the rice noodle sheets were relatively thin and translucent but it wasn't as delicate as it appeared.  There was considerable elasticity and a bit of chew in some spots.  However, that was fine by me since it still ate quite well and didn't fall apart like some overly soft versions.  As you can see in the picture, we found 2 large prawns per noodle roll.  They had a meaty snap and were properly seasoned.

We ended up getting a big plate of fried rice since the kids wanted it.  We got their favorite in the Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice.  When I say big, the portion size was very generous.  In addition, the rice was wok fried nicely where it was nutty, dry and caramelized.  There was a good amount of moist pieces of salted fish that added its trademark brininess.  Moreover, the pieces of chicken were tender and mildly-seasoned, allowing the salted fish to be at the forefront.

Normally, we go for the XO Daikon Radish Cake, but here, they had the XO Taro Cake instead.  Worked for us as we prefer the taro version more anyways.  Whereas the radish cake is delicate and pudding like, the taro cake is more sturdy and dense.  Hence, the deep fried cubes held together and had a crispier exterior.  Also, the pieces of taro had that nice starchy powder texture.  This was not particularly greasy since the wok toss wasn't aggressive.  Therefore, it need some more spice as a result.

Getting to the most important dishes of the meal, we had the Ha Gau (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings).  These were pretty decent in size and had a medium-thick wrapper which was translucent with an appealing sheen.  It was on the chewier side with plenty of elasticity.  As for the filling, it was mostly whole shrimp with some shrimp mousse to bind everything.  It had the desired snap texture while the taste was sweet and a touch briny.

Now Dim Sum would not be complete with the other part of this duo in the Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling).  These were also rather large in size with a fairly appealing appearance.  I would've preferred that they didn't steam the tobiko on top though (raw would be better).  Beyond that, the dumpling itself was bouncy and juicy.  The pork was tender and properly seasoned.  Best of all, there was minimal fat too.

One item that didn't pass the eye test was the Beef Meatballs.  They were pretty pale and the texture was a bit too dense.   I did appreciate that there was some actual beef texture left though.  We also had the Pork Spareribs and they were serviceable.  I thought that the seasoning was rather one note being salty with some garlic.  The meat itself was tender enough but lacking that classic bounciness.  These 2 dishes were my least favourite.

Onto the offal portion of our meal, we had the Bible Tripe with ginger and green onion.  This was decent with tender strips of tripe.  It was maybe a bit too soft as we lost some of the usual bite.  Flavours were good though.  On the other hand, the Chicken Feet need some improvement.  Other than so pieces being too light in color, the cartilage was still a bit crunchy underneath the plump skin.  Hence, it was hard to eat each piece, literally.  It needed to be cooked down a bit more.  Flavors were okay though with sweet and salty garlickiness.

We got some veggies into the meal with the Peashoots with bean curd skin and ginko nuts.  This was good with tender pea shoots that were cooked just enough.  Broth was mild and lightly sweet.  For dessert, we had the Pineapple Buns that were fresh out of the oven.  We had to wait quite a long time for these but it was worth it.  The bun itself was pillowy soft while the sweet topping was crispy and aromatic.  In general, the Dim Sum at Harbor Bay Village was fine and certainly did the job for Christmas morning.  However, possibly due to lack of staff on Christmas day itself, it wasn't a great experience.  People literally had to go refill their own tea at the hot water station.  I went as far as clearing our table so we had space to put new dishes.  Lastly, we got our own takeout containers from the front to pack our leftovers.  I was wondering if I had to go up to the register to print out the bill and pay too.  If this isn't the norm, then I would say Dim Sum was decent.  But if the lack of service is the usual, then I would skip this place.

The Good:

- Decent eats

- Fairly large portion size

- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:

- Essentially no service

Grand Neptune

We all know that the most prevalent Chinese restaurant chain in Vancouver is Neptune.  They come in many flavours such as Neptune Wonton Noodle, Neptune Seafood Restaurant and their higher-end Neptune Palace.  Now, they have gone one step further with Grand Neptune, taking over the spot that used to house Grand Dynasty.  Naturally, the place is a step up with a gorgeous VIP room (that I dined in) and subsequently, higher prices.

Even though the first dish to arrive was the congee, I'm going to talk about the most important dishes first - Ha Gau (Shrimp Dumpling) and Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling) first.  Both were textbook in terms of execution with the dumpling skin on the ha gau to be fairly thin and translucent.  It had good elasticity and wasn't oversteamed.  The shrimp filling was buttery with a sweet snap.  I could taste the sesame oil and the natural flavour of the shrimp.  As for the siu mai, the pork was "wat", which means there was a buttery tenderness to it while still retaining a rebound texture.  Seasoning was mild, but the balance between sweet and savoury was on point.  Also, there was not overly porky flavour to be found, which was a good thing.

In addition to the classic aforementioned dumplings, we had some of their specialty version including the Scallop Dumpling and Tomato, Egg & Shrimp Dumpling.  With a squid ink outer wrapper, the scallop dumpling was good with the same shrimp filling as the ha gau while topped with a scallop.  The scallop was still buttery  while the dumpling skin was chewy, but in a good way.  As for the other dumpling, it was whimsical as it did look like a tomato.  The dumpling skin had appealing elasticity like the ha gau while the filling had the same qualities as the other shrimp filling but with egg and a touch of tomato flavour.

Back to a usual dim sum dish, we had the BBQ Pork Buns.  These were also textbook with a fluffy steamed bun that was lightly sweet.  Inside, the BBQ pork filling was quite lean and mixed with a sweet and savoury glaze.  Not that we were expecting anything other than "okay", the Xiao Long Bao were exactly that.  Cantonese dim sum is not known for great Shanghainese dishes, and the XLBs were no different.  The skin was semi-thick but not dense.  Inside, the pork filling was tender with a decent amount of soup.  It was mostly one-note though.

Continuing with the usual dim sum offerings, we ordered the Beef Meatballs as well as the Steamed Pork Spareibs with black garlic.  A little on the firmer side, the beef meatballs were still bouncy and tender.  There was a balanced amount of greens that it didn't dominate the flavour profile.  As for the spareribs, they were in large meaty pieces that contained very little fat and cartilage.  Meat had a nice rebound while still maintaining its texture.  Seasoning was on point with hits of saltines, garlickiness and slight spice, however, I didn't get much in the way of black garlic.

Of course I had to get my usual fill of offal in the form of Chicken Feet and Steamed Spicy Beef Tripe.  Both of these were also good where the chicken feet were plump and featured soft cartilage and fat underneath the delicate skin.  It was full-flavoured with garlic and saltiness.  As for the tripe, it was also garlicky with some spice.  The slices of tripe were cooked until tender while still having that classic soft chewiness.

If you have seen in my previous dim sum posts, it is pretty obvious that the Bean Curd Skin Roll is one of my favs.  This one here was also delicious with tender bean curd skin that had a light chew to it.  Inside, the pork filling was tender and moist with some amount of veg.  Now on the other hand, Viv's favourite dim sum item is the Deep Fried Eggplant with shrimp paste.  This was also good but we wished there was more shrimp paste (as you can see in the picture there wasn't much of it).  The eggplant was delicate, but not overdone while the shrimp paste was sweet and bouncy.  We also wished there was more black bean sauce too.

Not sure what they were getting at with the BBQ Pork Pastries, but I think they were jellyfish?  Whatever the case, they were good though with a flaky and buttery puff pastry filled with lean BBQ pork.  It was a bit sweet, but not overly so.  As for the Shrimp Spring Rolls, they were also textbook.  The outer wrapper was golden brown and crispy.  None too greasy either.  The shrimp filling was sweet and had a buttery snap.

We couldn't have dim sum without a Rice Noodle Roll of some sort, so we got the beef version.  Not trying to sound like a broken record (hey, these are back!), but this was good.  The rice noodle was soft with a nice elasticity while the beef filling was tender.  One of our family favourites is the XO Daikon Radish Cake.  I thought this was the weakest of the dishes we'd had in the meal.  The cubes were a bit too large, but the texture was soft.  There was not enough XO and hence, the flavours were muted and not very impactful.

One of my son's favourite things to eat is beef brisket, so we had to get the Beef Brisket with daikon.  In reality, this was beef finger meat (which is the meat in between the beef ribs).  The meat was tender while still retaining a meatiness.  The broth was super light and this dish was very subtle in flavour.  We also got another one of his favs in the Lo Mei Gai (Sticky Rice Wrap) and this one was good.  It had some wild rice in it for texture and the amount of pork, dried shrimp and sausage was enough to make every bite meaty and flavourful.

To end things off on the savoury part of the meal, we had the House Special Crispy Noodles.  This was a good portion of fried noodles topped with a good mix of properly cooked seafood, meats and yau choy.  Loved the large scallops!  Also, the sauce had the right thickness while adequately seasoned.  Oh, and we can't forget about the Seafood Congee (that I mentioned earlier).  It was a bit homestyle in terms of thickness and appearance.  The flavours were a bit mild, but the side of peanuts, green onion and pickled mustard greens helped with that, as well as the white pepper.  There was a good amount of quality pieces of seafood that were prepared properly.

Onto dessert, we went for some whimsical items including the Lychee & Mango Rabbit.  The attention to detail with the colours made this appealing.  The gelatin was firm, but delicate enough that it wasn't dense.  Nice combination of aromatic lychee sweetness and mango flavours.  The Steamed Salted Egg Lava Buns came out with an "Hello Kitty" themed design.  Also cute and ultimately well-executed too.  Beyond the fluffy bun, the lava was runny, sweet, nutty and aromatic.

The best dessert was the Passion Fruit Mousse made to look like the actual fruit.  It was tangy and sweet with a lot of impact.  Texturally, it was a bit frozen, but I liked it.  Overall, the dim sum service at Grand Neptune was really good and almost worth the extra cost.  I say "almost" because it cost me a pretty penny to eat there and we didn't even order anything outrageous.  Hence, if money is no object to you, Grand Neptune should be on your list for higher-end dim sum spots in the GVRD.

The Good:

- On point dishes

- Decent service

- Nice dining space and also free parking in the casino lot

The Bad:

- On the higher end of pricing for dim sum in the GVRD

Chiu Chow Seafood Restaurant

Having already visited the newish Chiu Chow Seafood Restaurant for dinner, it was only a matter of time we went back for their Dim Sum Service.  To be honest, the dinner was a disappointment as the Chiu Chow dishes were a bit lacking.  However, the Dim Sum looked promising as it seemed like the menu was barely different than when it was still Regal Mansion.  Did they actually change staff?  Looks like many of the same people and maybe even the kitchen?  That would explain the mediocre dinner but promising Cantonese Dim Sum (despite being Chiu Chow now).

So I made several visits for their Dim Sum service already, but I'll amalgamate all of it in this one post.  Naturally, we need to have the staples including the Ha Gau and Siu Mai.  Both of these were quite good with the ha gau featuring a medium-thick dumpling skin that had good elasticity.  It was not oversteamed, so it held together when I picked it up with my chopsticks.  The filling had a moist and buttery texture with the classic shrimp snap.  Nice sweetness with an aromatic brininess.  As for the siu mai, they were buttery with the classic bounce from the pork and shrimp.  There was minimal chunks of fat, but the siu mai were still juicy.  Nicely seasoned with it being more sweet than savoury.

Due to the multiple visits, we were able to try 4 versions of their Rice Noodle Rolls including beef, prawn, scallop and BBQ pork.  As you can see in the pictures, the texture of the rice noodles were a bit different.  The one with the beef was the ribbon-type while the others were the classic rolls.  Hence, the beef version was softer and more intertwined with soft bouncy beef and green onion.  Large with a meaty snap, the prawns were texturally appealing.  Scallop was a more uniform texture being soft on buttery soft.  Loved the natural sweetness.  Overstuffed, the BBQ pork was combined with cilantro.  Not sure if that was necessary, but there was lots of lean meat.

Onto two versions of fried dumplings in the Deep Fried Glutinous Dumplings and the Deep Fried Taro Dumplings.  I found the glutinous dumplings to be only mildly crispy, but the shell was soft and nicely textured.  Inside, the pork and shrimp was moist and mildly-seasoned.  As for the taro dumplings, the mashed taro outer shell was a bit oil-logged, but that is typical because they mix the taro with lard (yes really).  So it was creamy and soft with a crispy exterior.  The pork and pine nut filling was also moist with a bit of starch-thickened sauce.

For me, I always like to get the Steamed Beef Tripe & Tendon in Teriyaki Sauce.  This was piled high with buttery tender slices of honeycomb tripe that had completely taken on the flavours of the braise.  It was sweet, garlicky and savoury.  There was no gaminess, so they had prepared the tripe well.  The tendon was super soft, but not melting.  Hence, there was an appealing sticky texture.  Looking like it needed something for colour on top, the Steamed Pork Spareribs with prune & taro was ultimately well-executed.  The meaty pieces were tender and buttery with that classic rebound.  I didn't really get too much prune, so it was more porky tasting than anything.

Continuing on with the usual Dim Sum items, we had the Chiu Chow-Style Steamed Beef Meatballs.  So these were sitting in a clear broth with some greens on the side.  Hence, the dish was very subtle.  Even the beef was not seasoned aggressively (that is what the side of Worcestershire sauce is for).  Texturally, they were a bit more dense that I would've liked, but they were still tender and bouncy.  Another classic was the Steamed Chicken Feet with chili and garlic.  These were fairly large and plump.  They were prepared properly where the cartilage and fat underneath were soft, but not melted away.  The skin was intact and tender after the deep fry and subsequent braising and steaming.  Lots of garlic flavour as well as a bit of spice.

Normally, we find Pan-Fried Daikon Radish Cakes on most Dim Sum menus.  Nothing unusual about this dish, but here they slap on a layer of shrimp paste on the top.  I've never seen this done before and really, it wasn't rocket science, but I enjoyed it.  It gave more body to the medium-firm pudding.  The shrimp paste was sweet and nicely seared.  On the topic of shrimp, the Deep Fried Shrimp Spring Rolls were also quite good.  They were served hot and the wheat wrapper was crunchy and not too greasy.  Inside, the whole shrimp were buttery moist and bouncy.

Moving along, we had 2 types of carbs including the Lo Mei Gai (Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves).  As you can see in the picture, there was an equal amount of ground pork filling to the sticky rice (with some wild rice thrown in).  That meant this was obviously meaty tasting.  The starch-thickened sauce mixed well with the soft sticky rice and helped flavour it.  We also got the Seafood Congee with prawns, scallops, fish and squid.  There was a good amount of seafood that was cooked just enough.  Hence, their textures were exactly how it should be.  The congee itself was well-seasoned but not salty.  It was not super thick, but not watery either.

One of their best dishes is their Baked BBQ Pork Buns (Gwei Fei Bao).  These were pillowy soft with a thin crispy & sweet sugary butter topping.  Inside, the ample amount of lean BBQ pork was coated in a sweet sauce.  I kid you not, another must order is their Sweet & Sour Pork.  This was a smaller Dim Sum version, but it was still plenty.  The chunks (or large strips) of pork were meaty and tender while not too fatty.  They were fried-to-order unlike some places that are par-cooked.  Hence, beyond the crispy and thin batter, the meat was juicy.  With just enough sauce to coat each piece, the flavours were definitely balanced between sweet & sour.

For dessert, we had the Baked Egg Tarts.  These were exactly how we like them with a buttery and flaky puff pastry shell and a silky semi-sweet egg filling. However, their signature dessert is their Twisted Egg Pastry (Daan San) with coconut and syrup (probably a honey/maltose mix).  These light-as-a-feature crisps were very fragile but appealing to eat.  With a bit of both condiments, it was sweet and aromatic.  Honestly, the Dim Sum here feels like it is exactly the same as when it was Regal Mansion.  Sure, there are some Chiu Chow additions, but that is about it.  Could it be the same Dim Sum chef?  Possibly.  Whatever the case, it is better than their dinner service in my opinion.

The Good:

- Generally above-average eats

- Comfortable dining space

- Fairly good service

- Validated 3-hour parking

The Bad:

- Still not sure about their Chiu Chow dishes

- Not the easiest restaurant to get to from the parking lot.  Only one elevator for that side.