Suhang

Oh boy, we haven't officially been back to Suhang since 2010.  Now I say "officially" because I have been back in 2016 in my quest to find the best Xiao Long Bao in Richmond.  In reality, Suhang has been one of the best places in the Lower Mainland for XLBs for quite some time.  Hence, with my cousin (Cable Car Guy) was visiting from the Bay Area, I felt this was the place we would go since he was craving XLBs (he went to Shanghai River with us last time he was in town).

Not sure why we ordered the Peking Duck (because we normally want to eat more of the Dim Sum items), but my mom wanted it.  It turned out to be a bit hit and miss though.  We asked for more meat attached to the skin and they did that perfectly.  However, the skin wasn't uniformly crispy and there was quite a bit of fat.  The accompanying crepes were excellent being thin, soft and a bit chewy.

We chose the Lettuce Wrap as our second course for the Peking duck.  There is no way around saying this, but it was terrible.  The pieces of duck were stir-fried far too long, hence became dry and chewy.  Furthermore, the amount of dark soy not only meant the dish was not particularly appealing to look it, the caramelization made the dish rather salty.  At the very least, the veggies were still crunchy and the lettuce was prepared properly.

So here we are with 2 versions of their Xiao Long Bao.  We had the regular version first and noticed right away that the dumpling skin was rather thick and somewhat chewy.  For some reason, half of them were deflated where the soup had leaked out.  The other half did have soup and it was good with a meaty sweetness as well as gingery and shaoxing wine notes.  The pork filling was tender, yet a touch gritty.  As for the Crab Xiao Long Bao, we also found that half were also devoid of soup.   They were pretty much the same as the regular version except for the addition of crab meat.  It did add some sweet brininess, but I would've liked a bit more impact.

Continuing on with pork-stuffed things, we had the Pan-Fried Pork Buns as well.  These were pretty solid with perfectly seared bottom where it was brown (bordering on becoming burnt, but that is a good thing) and crispy.  Due to that, it was nutty and aromatic.  The bun itself was somewhere between fluffy and dense.  Inside, the pork filling was similar to the XLBs being a touch gritty.  The soup inside was sweet and a touch porky.

Cable Car Guy and I noticed the Spareribs with Wuxi-Style Sauce on the menu (the picture was quite delicious-looking).  However, the actual dish did not resemble the menu photo in any way.  With that being said, it still was quite tasty and the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender.  The whole dish ate quite sweet and it could've used a bit more vinegar for balance.

Of course we had to order the kid's favourite dish in the Shanghai Stir-Fried Rice Cakes.  Despite its pale appearance (this needed some more dark soy), the dish did have enough caramelization via sufficient wok hei (with a very hot wok!).  Therefore, the flavours were caramelized.  Texturally, the rice cakes were a bit soft, but still had chew.  We really wished to added more shredded pork and veggies to it though.

Staying on the carb train, I decided to try their Dan Dan Mein (noodles).  As you can see, this was rather brothy.  This resulted in the watered-down flavours.  That was really too bad as the peanut sauce, chili sauce and peanuts were really tasty together.  The peanut flavour still came through and the spice level was muted (due to the amount of broth).  Noodles were nicely al dente though.

Staying with the classics, we ordered the Szechuan Beef Noodle.  This was pretty good with a broth that was on the milder side in terms of seasoning, but it did have enough spiciness.  Again, the noodles were al dente and the spinach was not overcooked.  The best part was the ample amount of sliced beef shank.  These were fall-apart tender and took on all the flavours of the stewing liquid with some spice and liquorice notes.

To get some more veggies into the meal, we opted for a pretty standard choice in the Stir-Fried Pea Shoots with Garlic.  We found the portion size to be quite generous (as pea shoots cook down quite a bit).  In terms of preparation, the dish as wok-fried with enough heat that there was not residual moisture on the place.  It was seasoned well and it was not greasy.

Our last dish was the Salted Salmon Fried Rice and for me at least, I really enjoyed it.  The big chunks of moist salted salmon were plentiful and hence impactful.  Chewy and nutty, the rice was texturally on point with enough seasoning.  Plenty of high wok heat caramelizing the flavours.  So this dish was good, but the whole meal itself was inconsistent.  Maybe our expectations were too high?  I felt our recent Shanghainese meal at Yuan's Garden to be superior all across the board.  Maybe this was an off night?  Hope not, because it lags behind many of their competitors in Richmond.

The Good:
- Surprisingly attentive service
- Decent portion sizes
- Seating is fairly spacious

The Bad:
- Food is hit and miss

Yuan's Garden

The Shanghainese dim sum game in Richmond is pretty much the best in the Lower Mainland.  Sure, we have some spots scattered around that are pretty good, but yah Richmond is king of all things Chinese and parking lot chaos.  Speaking of which, we decided to check out Yuan's Garden on Alexandra Road and yep, their parking lot is woefully insufficient for the businesses in the complex.  Hence, we found cars parked in spots that weren't even spots (not that we were surprised).  For those familiar with Shanghai Morning, this is essentially their new location under a new name.

Anyways, unlike parking spots, we could reserve a table and thankfully we did as the place was packed.  We kicked things off with the Hot & Sour Soup that featured a chili oil slick on top.  Despite that, the soup itself was not that spicy.  I found it rather mild with enough tanginess.  There could've been more ingredients as it wasn't that fulfilling.  Overall, the soup was decent though as the viscosity was right and textures were good.

Onto the Xiao Long Bao, we ended up ordering 2 steamers, but only one at a time.  Good strategy when you want to keep them hot and steamy.  These featured a medium-thick dumpling skin that was tender with a bit of elasticity.  There was a considerable amount of soup inside that had strong ginger and shaoxing wine notes.  The meat was plentiful and plump being juicy and moist.

We also got the Drunken Chicken as this is one of my mom's favourite dishes.  This was also pretty solid with a good portion size for the price.  It featured an equal amount of dark and white meat.  The skin was nicely gelatinzed while sporting an appealing colour.  As for the meat, both types were tender and a touch firm due to the use of free-range chicken.  There was enough wine flavour to give some floral notes to go with the saltiness.

As we already had the chicken, we decided that we'd get the Nanjing Duck as well.  Personally, I thought this was better than the chicken.  Neatly cut, the slices of breast meat were tender without any dry portions.  It was flavourful with a muted saltiness with background liquorice notes.  The skin was gelantized and it was completely edible without being flabby.  One of the better versions of this dish I've had lately.

Off to my kid's favourite dish, we had to the Shanghai-Style Stir-Fried Rice Cakes.  As you can see in the picture, they used enough dark soy to give the dish colour.  Furthermore, there was enough wok hei (a really hot wok), to caramelize each slice of rice cake.  It was cooked enough that they were tender and soft while keeping their classic chewiness.  Seasoning was on point too.

Instead of getting the usual spicy beef noodle, we opted for the tamer Five Spice Beef Noodle instead.  Yes, this was indeed very mild and in fact, perfect for young kids and those who do not like spice.  For me, I would've preferred the Szechuan style instead.  With that being said, the noodles were al dente while the broth was clean and slightly sweet.  As for the sliced beef shank, it was light on flavour, but quite tender.

In addition to the XLBs, we got the Pan Fried Pork Buns as our second dumpling dish.  Although you cannot see it, the bottoms were nicely browned and crispy.  Hidden within the relatively fluffy bun, was similarly juicy and moist ground pork as the XLBs.  There was also a good amount of sweet meaty soup that was not all that greasy.  In fact, the bun itself did not soak up too much oil either.

So our last 2 items consisted of the Fried Salty Donut as well as the Shao Beng with sliced beef shank.  I have to say the donut was quite interesting as the texture was akin to an egg puff pastry.  The outside was super crispy, but the inside was fluffy and eggy.  Not typical, but still good.  As for the shao beng, it was flaky and crispy with lots of tender beef inside.  I did find it a bit too delicate as it shattered after being cut.  Overall, the food at Yuan's Garden was solid and reasonably-priced.  It is a good alternative to some of the usual spots in Shanghai River, Suhang and Top Shanghai.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Reasonably-priced

- Ok service

The Bad:

- Super tight seating

- Insufficient parking lot

Top Shanghai

Boy, I haven't been back to Top Shanghai since I was doing the "best XLB in Richmond" blog post.  Seeing that was 2016, yah, I would say it has been awhile.  Upon entering the restaurant, it was nice to see they got rid of the table for 2 right at the door.  That must've been one of the most awkward tables in any restaurant I've ever seen.  Other than that, the tables still are rather close to each other, but now they sport plexiglass dividers.  Thank you Covid-19...

So the thing to get here is the Sang Jeen Bao or Pan-Fried Pork Buns.  These featured an aggressively fried bottom that was crunchy and nutty.  The actual bun was rather thin, which meant it wasn't heavy nor doughy.  Inside, there was a considerable amount of soup that was fatty and hence porky in flavour.  The meat was tender and sweet.  I enjoyed them, but I think the ones at Dong Tai Xiang to be better as well as the ones at Victoria Seafood Restaurant too (the dinner is meh, but the pan-fried buns are one of the best in town).  Also I do realize that these are all different versions (especially, the Cantonese version at Victoria), but I will still compare them.

Of course we had to order the Xiao Long Bao, but we decided on the crab version for something different.  Due to the amount of pork fat, the filling tasted much like the previous dumplings - porky.  Hey, more fat is necessary to create a tender filling, but that also means that is the dominant flavour.  Hence, the crab was rather lost in this other than the intermittent texture.  Dumpling wrapper was medium-thick in parts but mostly thin which was good.

So to get some veggies into the meal, we got the Dry-Fried Green Beans with pork.  This was pretty good with oil-blanched beans that were cooked-through while still maintaining a crunch.  Despite being flash-fried, the dish wasn't overly greasy.  Wok heat was good as the seasoning was completely caramelized to each green bean.  Often, it is hard to keep green beans flavourful as the seasoning slides off of them.  This wasn't the case here.

My favourite dish was the Braised Tofu with Crab Roe and I really wish there was a bowl of rice to eat it with.  However, with the amount of dishes ordered, rice was the last thing we needed (for 2 people).  The silky smooth cubes of tofu were completely intact while the starch-thickened sauce was so flavourful and full of umami.  It was sweet, briny and had that seafood aroma - yummy.  I was literally just scooping it like soup in my bowl.

Next dish was a mistake on my part (or was it?  I remembered ordering "seun hoy chow neen goh"), as I ordered the Rice Cake in Soup Shanghai Style.  What I wanted was stir-fried rice cake, but whatever, we made do with this one.  It wasn't bad though as the soup was comforting and it was a huge portion of soft rice cake (can't help it, when it is sitting in liquid), shredded pork, Napa cabbage and spinach.  

Another tasty dish was the Sauteed Chicken with spicy garlic sauce.  This was full of flavour with definite saltiness accented by spice.  There was good wok heat where the outside of the chicken was dry and caramelized with some smokiness.  However, the chicken was still quite tender (not juicy though).  Again, this would've went well with rice, but we didn't get any.  I merely had it with my rice cake soup...

Last dish was the Spicy Salt Deep Fried Chicken Wings.  This was not on the regular menu and took forever to arrive.  We were more than halfway though our meal by the time it hit the table.  They were not bad with lightly crispy wings with somewhat rendered skin.  The meat was juicy and nicely brined.  I thought the salt could've been more impactful.  In the end, the meal was fine.  I've never thought Top Shanghai as my first choice for Shanghainese cuisine in the Lower Mainland, yet at the same time, the food is respectable.  For me at least, I'd hit up Shanghai Wonderful or Shanghai River first.

The Good:
- Huge menu (could be a negative too)
- Decent eats
- Well-portioned

The Bad:
- There are better places to go though
- Service wasn't bad, but definitely sparse  

Pan-Fried Dumplings

In 2017, we took my cousins out to Din Ding Dumpling House and introduced their kiddies to Xiao Long Bao.  Well, apparently, it was such a big hit, they kept requesting for them after we returned to Vancouver (we were back in 2019, but didn't have any dumplings).  Since then, they have discovered a place called Pan-Fried Dumplings out in Newark that boasts some pretty good XLBs.  Now that we are able to travel again, we made the trek back out to the East Bay to visit family.  However, instead of meeting up with them for some XLBs, we met up with Areta (who happened to be vacationing nearby) instead!

Predictably, we over-ordered and ended up with 5 steamers of Xiao Long Bao including the 3 pork, 1 chicken and 1 shrimp.  This is the picture of the pork and really, the chicken and shrimp looked almost exactly like this except a bit lighter in color.  All of them featured a fairly thin dumpling skin that was delicate with some elasticity.  There was plenty of soup that was sweet but the pork XLBs were pretty greasy.  The meat was tender and bouncy though.  I found the chicken to be lighter in texture and also easier on the greasiness.  The shrimp had a sweet briny taste while also being not as greasy.

Of course we had to order the Snow-Flake Pan Fried Fried Dumplings (kinda the restaurant's name) and it came out golden brown with a considerable skirt.  Both the bottom of the dumplings and the skirt were crispy and nutty.  The overall dumpling skin was medium-thick and not dense.  I found the filling inside to be, you guessed it, greasy.  However, using such fatty pork also ensured that the meat was tender and moist.

Continuing on with the dumplings, we also had the Soup Pan Fried Buns (Sang Jeen Bao).  These sported crunchy tops that had been pan fried in a good amount of oil.  The bun itself was light where they kept the dough to a minimum.  Hence these did not eat heavy despite the ample soup inside being, once again, greasy.  Like I said, this is a double-edged sword, because for the meat to be juicy and tender, the fattiest mix is the necessary.

Now the greasiness wasn't exclusive to the dumplings.  I found the Ground Three Delight (featuring eggplant, green and red peppers) to be pretty much coated in oil (lots on the bottom of the plate too).  Beyond that, the dish was good though with plenty of wok hei that gave the dish delicious caramelization.  Texturally, the eggplant was perfect, being cooked through without being mushy.  There was plenty of seasoning that was balanced between sweet and salty.

Even though the Beef Wrap looked appealingly flaky, I wasn't a huge fan of it.  The pancake was thin and not overly heavy, but I found it dry and overly flaky.  I would've preferred it to be chewier.  The sliced beef shank inside was tender and flavourful, but that was partly negated by the lettuce.  I know there are versions that have lettuce, yet I'm not a big fan.  It takes away from the beef and the hoisin sauce in my opinion.

I did enjoy the Spicy Red Oil Wontons though as there was a good amount of spiciness that was balanced.  What I mean is that I could taste the savoriness of the pork filling while also the nuttiness of the oil in addition to the spice.  It wasn't one-note.  Furthermore, the wontons themselves were pretty good since they were cooked just right with a tender wrapper with juicy (and surprisingly less greasy, but they were sitting in oil...) pork filling.

Now onto the noodle portion of our meal, we first got served the Tomato Beef Noodle Soup.  I wasn't a really big fan of this as the broth was a bit bland and lacking depth.  I have to give it to them that I could taste tomato though.  I also wasn't too fond of the thick noodles as they reminded me of udon.  We should have chosen the regular noodles instead.  As for the beef, it was okay as it was tender and fairly moist.  

One noodle that I really enjoyed was the Pork Dan Dan Noodles.  Now it didn't look anything close to the picture in the online menu (as there is a brothy sauce).  This was served dry with only the minced meat topping and veggies.  However, when mixed together, the spicy and numbing flavors were super tasty and impactful.  Due to the lack of moisture, the noodles remained al dente and the flavors were more concentrated.

Now the Old Peking Minced Noodles were not as impactful, yet they aren't supposed to be either.  This was more for the kiddies, but it wasn't super popular either.  Not that there was anything particularly wrong with it.  Once again, the noodles were al dente and there was just enough sauce to coat them.  I found the sauce to be not as salty as I would've liked, but there was still flavor.  Maybe there was just a tad too many veggies that watered it down.  Would've just liked the cucumber rather than also including carrots and sprouts.  In the end, the thing we enjoyed the most was the Xiao Long Bao.  Other items were hit and miss.  Prices were on the higher side but portions were generous.  Prepare yourself for some oily lips as things are really greasy here.

The Good:

- Excellent XLBs

- Large portions

- Other dumplings are good too

The Bad:

- Very greasy

- Dishes are hit and miss

Full House Dumpling

Originally, we were going to hit up some eats in Berkeley once we made it to the Bay Area.  However, with an SUV full of our precious belongings, we weren't too confident in leaving it parked for a few hours on the street.  Hence, we decided to head straight to my aunt's house in Fremont.  That way, we could drop off our valuables and then go for some eats.  As always, we ended up going for Chinese in the form of Full House Dumpling (at least we weren't going to eat here 3x straight like Pearl Bay).

The thing to get here is, of course, the dumplings.  Specifically, we are talking about their Xiao Long Bao (Juicy Pork Dumplings).  We got both the regular ones and the Crab Xiao Long Bao.  I thought these were excellent featuring fairly thin dumpling skin that had some elasticity.  There was plenty of soup to be found inside which was clean and sweet.  I thought the essence of crab was apparent.  The pork filling for both was tender and moist while not crumbly.

Sticking with dumplings, we also ordered the Shrimp Pork Siu Mai.  Somehow I was thinking Din Tai Fung when I saw this on the menu.  However, it really was just Cantonese-style shrimp siu mai.  So no, these were not XLBs with a shrimp plugging up an open top (maybe it was something else on this menu).  These were okay with a fairly loose, yet tender pork filling.  There was a bit too much green onion in it, which didn't make much sense.  The shrimp had a nice sweet snap though.

Moving away from dumplings, we tried their Water-Boiled Fish served in a clay pot.  Typically, this is a Szechuan dish, but it appears the Full House serves a variety of Chinese cuisines (including their main focus - Taiwanese).  Although not particularly Szechuan-like, their version was quite delicious regardless.  It had good spice while not being burning hot.  There was no shortage of tender fish fillets (probably basa) that were flaky.  

One of the more under-the-radar items was the Salted Egg Yolk Silken Tofu.  Each cube of tofu was fried just enough to retain its shape while still being silky in texture.  It was carefully wok-tossed (so nothing broke apart) in salted egg yolk, garlic, green onions and peppers.  Although not really all that salty, the aroma and essence of salted egg yolk did come through.  The nuttiness and also the rest of the ingredients were evident.

I wasn't really sure why I was ordering Spicy Stir-Fried Cabbage but it was a pretty solid dish.  Despite some moisture at the bottom of the plate, there was still decent caramelization due to ample "wok hei".  Hence, the spice from the chilis did announce itself throughout the dish.  However, there was still the natural sweetness of the cabbage coming through.  Also, the cabbage was still crunchy despite being cooked through.

One of the more average items was the Braised Beef Noodles.  Now by looks alone, this was quite good with lots of braised beef and wide thick noodles.  Indeed the noodles were al dente and well-portioned.  However, the beef was a bit chewy and lacking impact.  The soup itself was a bit too mild for my liking as it lacked depth and was rather one note.  Possibly if this was the spicy version, it would've been better.

Now on the other hand, the Garlic Pork was very impactful.  That garlic sauce on top was potent and I wouldn't go near anyone with that garlic breath after eating it.  I personally thought it was fantastic despite some thinking it was too garlicky.  There was enough salt and sweetness to make the sauce complete.  As for the sliced pork belly, it was a touch chewy given that there was a decent amount of fat.  However, it was still easy to eat.

I'm not particularly fond of the Green Onion Pancake, but Viv loves it, so yes we had that too.  Turns out that she should've not ordered it because it was also rather average.  On the positive side, it as nicely browned with a crispy exterior.  There was also a balanced amount of green onion.  However, the pancake itself was rather dense and chewy.  Furthermore, it was pretty much soaked with oil, so every bite was far too greasy.  

For no other reason than we didn't have any rice dishes, we ordered the Shrimp Fried Rice.  I would say this was an okay plate of fried rice.  There was decent caramelization, but the rice itself was more fluffy than nutty and chewy.  It was also rather bland needing salt.  At the very least, the shrimp were done right with a sweet snap.  Overall, the food at Full House was decent with some highlights, in particular, the soup dumplings.  Stick with those and you can't go wrong.

The Good:

- Soup dumplings are legit

- Reasonable-pricing

- Spacious seating

The Bad:

- Other dishes are hit and miss

- Service is hit and miss