Sun Sui Wah (Main Street)

Boy, here is a Cantonese classic - Sun Sui Wah on Main Street.  It first opened on Main Street in 1988 where Haiyi Seafood Restaurant operates currently.  However, due to their popularity, they moved into a larger location at 3888 Main Street in late 1995, where they still stand today.  They were known for their Squab and excellent Cantonese dishes.  Over time, there has been an increasing amount of capable competitors where some have definitely passed them by.  With that being said, I've had many great meals here and for the first time in years, we decided to pay them a visit, taking my father-in-law out for Father's Day.

As much as the set menus looked great, we didn't have enough people to go for a 10-course meal.  So we ended up doing a la carte.  On that note, they supplied us with menus that we couldn't order from.  Their reasoning?  It was for "advertising purposes".  Honestly, that was pretty weak.  Anyways, we went about getting an eclectic selection of dishes because my FIL can't exactly chew very well.  Hence, we ending up getting a 3lb Dungeness Crab in cream sauce with a yee mein base.  Normally here, we would go for wonton noodles since they hold up to the sauce better, but again, he can't chew it.  No matter, as the noodles weren't too soft and the crab was supremely fresh and meaty.   The meat was bouncy and sweet with classic crab brininess.  Cream sauce was flavourful and buttery.

I was betting that the beef would be marinated enough to be buttery soft in the Satay Beef Vermicelli Hot Pot.  After a few bites, it was indeed tenderized to the point where it was a bit spongy and ultimately tender.  At the same time, there was enough natural meat texture left so it wasn't too artificial.  There was a nice ratio of meat to vermicelli, so it was a fulfilling dish.  The vermicelli was still al dente, but not clumpy.  In terms of taste, the dish was well-seasoned.  Plenty of savouriness with a touch of spice and brininess.  I liked how the hot pot wasn't overly greasy too.

The very softest dish we ordered was the Salted Fish & Chicken with Soft Tofu Hot Pot.  Another solid offering where the saltiness from the fish (and the seasoning) was impactful bordering on salty without going over.  This definitely needed rice as a counterbalance.  We found the tofu super silky, but they were able to keep it from disintegrating during the cooking process.  Bits of chicken were tender and buttery while the amount of salted fish was generous.  Little hits of ginger helped keep things from being too heavy.

One dish that wasn't as soft was the Sweet & Sour Pork.  This was a pretty even mix of meat and pineapple, onions and peppers.  There was just enough sauce to coat each piece of pork, which helped keep things a bit crispy.  The meat itself was only a little fatty, yet still tender and bouncy.  Tangy and sweet, the sauce was quite good, but possibly it could've had just a bit more sourness. 

We ordered one vegetarian dish in the Braised Fried Tofu, Broccoli, Mushrooms and Morels.  This featured soft and almost fall-apart tofu that was was coated in a silky starch-thickened sauce that was just salty enough.  Despite using dried morels, it was still nice to have the earthiness and unique texture of the mushrooms.

We ended up getting the 2 courses of Ling Cod with the first dish being the Stir-Fried Yau Choy with Ling Cod Filets. We asked the vegetable to be cooked a bit longer so that my FIL could eat it.  So I can't really comment on the texture as a result.  However, it was well-seasoned and not overly greasy.  The fish itself a bit crumbly, but tender and fresh.

The second course was the Ling Cod & Tofu Hot Pot.  This was a large portion of the fish bones, belly, tail and fins that were coated in starch and deep fried.  Along with the deep fried tofu, it was finished off with a toss in starch-thickened sauce, onions, ginger and shredded pork.  Once again, the tofu was tender while the fish was buttery and flaky.  Sauce was a bit salty, but wasn't longing for flavour.  

Last item was the Yeung Chow Fried Rice consisting of egg fried rice, BBQ pork, shrimp and gai lang stems.  Nutty and dry, this rice was textbook execution where it was nicely salty and not greasy with discernible grains of chewy rice.  Overall, the meal at Sun Sui Wah was above average and we were satisfied.  Too bad we didn't get to try some of their signature items due to being selective with our dishes.   Prices have definitely gone up in the last 10 years, but that is true across the board.  With that being said, there are other places that I can get roughly the same quality for less money.

The Good:

- Decent eats

- Large portion size

- Despite being busy, the service was quite good

The Bad:

- Prices are on the higher side

- Not sure why we got menus that we couldn't order from

New Mandarin (Dim Sum Peking Duck)

For awhile there, I was visiting New Mandarin for dinner and dim sum regularly.  However, with me being out-of-town frequently and also Viv breaking her ankle, some things just got lost in the shuffle.  Well, we would make a return to New Mandarin for dim sum and to try out their Beijing Duck special.  Yes, most people don't order that for Dim Sum, but for only $59.98 for one course, that can be considered a deal!

Of course we had to get some Dim Sum in addition to the Beijing Duck.  The first dish to hit the table was the Deep Fried Taro Dumplings with Scallop.  These were light and crispy on the outside while not being overly greasy.  Soft and fluffy, the mashed taro encased the usual ground pork filling.  It was moist and was mixed with a starch-thickened sauce.  Since the top was open due to the scallop, more oil seeped into the taro.

Since we ordered over $100.00 worth of dishes, we were presented with the bonus dish of BBQ Pork.  Since this was the kurobuta variety, it was plenty fatty and hence juicy.   It wasn't flabby though as there was just enough fat to make things rather bouncy and gelatinous.  Meat was tender an moist.  Really enjoyed the sweet honey-glazed bark.

As you can see in the picture above, the Beijing Duck was carved with crispy skin only and also breast meat with skin attached.  This way, you could take your pick as to wrapping it with either option.  Alternatively, you could merely eat the breast meat on its own.  The duck was quite good with crispy skin that wasn't fatty while the breast meat was tender and flavourful.

For another $15.00, you could add another course in the Duck Lettuce Wrap.  Really good value in my books because that would be $65.00 for 2 courses!  This was also good with crunchy veggies and plenty of moist duck meat.  Seasoning was a touch on the saltier side, but the hoisin helped balance it with sweetness.  I love how the iceberg lettuce was in big pieces (can wrap better) and was not wet.

We got back to the Dim Sum with the Truffle Siu Mai.  These were large while stuffed full of large shrimp and pork.  The dumpling was uniformly bouncy and almost juicy.  Natural sweetness from the pork and shrimp were present while the seasoning was just enough for impact.  Truffle sauce was not distributed evenly, so 2 pieces were more truffly than the other two.

Of course, I must talk about the Ha Gau (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings).  As you can see, the dumpling skin on these was translucent and fairly thin.  There was a slight chew to them, but they had good elasticity.  I liked how they didn't fall apart when I picked them up.  Inside, the shrimp filling was buttery and moist with an appealing snap.  Proper seasoning on them too.

Other than tripe, the Steamed Bean Curd Skin Rolls are my favourite Dim Sum item.  With an aggressive fry on the bean curd skin, it ensured a chewier texture (which was good).  Inside, the pork filling was moist and had that requisite bouncy texture.  Not much starch-thickened sauce in this one, so the bean curd skin did eat more dry.  I didn't mind it, but others might.

Even though my kids were present for this meal, we still got the Shrimp Spring Rolls with Garlic (we like them too!).  These were a bit small, but at least we had 4 of them to an order.  They were crispy and just a touch greasy but that didn't make of break this dish.  Inside, the shrimp filling was buttery and moist with that desired bounciness.  Well-seasoned too with hits of garlickiness.

Even though there isn't a whole lot of food with the Steamed Chicken Feet, I love ordering it nonetheless.  These were good with soft deep-fried skin that had a bite still.  Underneath, the cartilage and fat were soft and ate easily.  It wasn't too soft where things were melting away either.  In terms of seasoning, it was plenty sweet, savoury and garlicky.

One of their more unique items is the Hot & Sour Soup Dumplings.  They are somewhat similar to the ones found at Mott32.  Usually, these are on point, but this time around, there was a lack of soup.  Too bad really, as the dumpling skin was relatively thin and great elasticity.  Also, the pork filling was tender with a slight rebound.  The small amount of soup was classic hot and sour with tang and some spice.

One of Viv's favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Stuffed Eggplant.  So yes, I ordered it!  It was quite full of shrimp mousse, to the point where there was more than eggplant.  Texturally, the mousse was not overly dense, yet not too airy either.  It had a light rebound while being a good balance of savoury and sweet.  The eggplant itself was tender without being mushy.  We would've liked to see a saltier black bean sauce though.

We always prefer the Baked BBQ Pork Pastries over the BBQ pork buns and hence, we ordered our favourite.  The pastry was generally flaky and buttery (mostly likely lardy), especially at the top.  However, the sides were a touch gummy with less flakiness.  Inside, the BBQ pork was mostly lean and enveloped in a sweet glaze.   

One item I've never had before at New Mandarin is the Seafood & Chinese Yam Dumpling.  These featured a translucent skin that was appealingly chewy with great elasticity.  Inside, the pieces of seafood were cooked just right and there was a some greens in it for brightness.  I thought these were a good alternative (or addition) to the ha gau if you one felt they wanted something different.

Moving onto 2 Rice Noodle Rolls, we had both the BBQ Pork and Prawn.  Both were quite large and featured buttery soft rice noodle sheets.  With that in mind, there was still some elasticity, so they didn't break upon contact.  Lean and plentiful, the BBQ pork was really noticeable in every bite.  That created a meatiness to go with the soft sheets of noodle.  Same with the prawns, as you can see above, there was much more prawns (with a buttery snap) than noodle.

In a pretty dark shade of brown, the Beef Meatballs looked to be heavy with the dark soy.  In terms of texture, these were a bit firmer than most other versions I've had lately.  Hence, it was much more meaty than being airy or fluffy.  With a good amount of greens mixed in, there was a herbaceous brightness to the meatball.  This came in a set of four rather than the usual three everywhere else.

One of my favourite desserts at New Mandarin at their Deep Fried Purple Yam Chrysanthemum Balls.  These were every-so-lightly-crispy while the inside had a mochi-like quality to them.  However, the texture was almost fluffy and super airy.  With some chrysanthemum and syrup, the whole thing was floral and sweet.  With that being said, it wasn't crazy sweet either.

Finally, we had the classic Baked Egg Tarts served as a trio.  Yes, they were a little inconsistent, with one being darker, then medium dark and light.  However, they all ate flaky and buttery with discernible layers.  Egg filling was silky and mildly sweet.  Overall, this was another delicious Dim Sum service at New Mandarin.  It was extra bountiful since we went for the Beijing Duck.  Very well-priced as well.

 

The Good:

- Solid dim sum

- Service has improved over the years

- The Beijing Duck special

 

The Bad:

- With the place so busy, your meal might be a little rushed 

 

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