Dim Sum @ Shiang Garden

I'm not sure where this all started; but it always seems like Chinese families go for Dim Sum on statutory holidays. When I was younger, I could remember the mass chaos trying to get a table at the limited selection of restaurants. Hey, back then you only could choose from a few. I really hated waiting for a table. If family time was meant to be in a lineup, we really should have just gone down to Bellingham for some Royal Fork buffet. Uh... For those of you that are a bit young, there were some dedicated foodies who traveled south of the border for a buffet. Go figure. Anyways, I guess we're carrying on the tradition by taking my kids out for Dim Sum on Victoria Day. The restaurant of choice was Shiang Garden chosen by Vandelay. For the second straight Dim Sum, Whipping Girl joins us as well.

Normally, most restaurants in Vancouver fill up quick for Dim Sum. If you don't arrive before 11:30am (some places even earlier), you'll probably be subjected to a lineup. However, as Whipping Girl suggested, the Richmond restaurants do not really fill up until noon. We arrived at Shiang Garden at 10:30am and it was pretty quiet. It wasn't until we left that there was small lineup begin to build.

We were given a checklist to pick our Dim Sum items; however, it was completely in Chinese. Even though there was an English version, we were too proud to ask for one. Rather, we leaned on Viv (who can read Chinese) to fill out the checklist. We ordered quite a few items: Shrimp Dumplings, Sui Mai, Pan-fried Buns, Pan-fried Soy Rice Rolls, Mushroom Rice Roll, Beef Rice Roll, Bean Curd Roll, Beef Meatballs, Black Bean Spareribs, Green Onion Pancake & Beef Roll, Chicken & Taro Spring Rolls, Chicken Feet in Abalone Sauce, Fried Bitter Melon Glutinous Balls with Black Sesame and Egg Tarts. Is it just me or did we order a lot of rolls?

The food came fast and furious, I was having a hard time keeping up with the pictures! The shrimp dumplings were pretty good. There were whole shrimp packed in a thin; yet a bit chewy wrapper. The flavour was light and thankfully no bamboo shoots (see Imperial). The sui mai (pork, shrimp & mushroom dumpling) was excellent. There was a good mix of all 3 ingredients and none of which were overcooked. The dumpling was "seong", which means there was enough chewiness so that the dumpling wasn't mushy. Flavours were good and not over seasoned.

The pan-fried buns were interesting because they were literally buns. Unlike Victoria Restaurant, where their pan-fried buns are more like pan-fried Xiao Long Baos, the ones at Shiang Garden resemble a mini-chicken bun. With that being said, it was still pleasant to eat, it was just different. We ended up ordering 3 types of rice noodle rolls and they all were pretty good. The rice noodle was soft; yet still had a bit of chewiness to it. Fillings were plentiful and delicately flavoured.

One dish we should have not ordered was the beef roll with onion pancake. Although the beef was soft and there was an adequate amount of hosin sauce, the onion pancake itself was terrible. First, there wasn't enough onions in it (I can't believe I'm saying that). For people who know me, I'm not particularly fond of green onions. I will eat them, but not a lot of them. Second, the dough was very thick and gummy. It was like chewing on undercooked pizza dough. Adding insult to injury, the rolls appeared to be cut with kindergarten scissors because they were still all stuck to each other. Fortunately, the spring rolls were cut all the way through and it revealed that rather than using shrimp or pork, it was a combination of chicken and taro. This was an interesting choice of filling; but I really liked it. The taro was a good texture contrast to the crispy outer wrapper. I thought it tasted best without dipping it into Worcester sacue.

I'm not going to go into detail with the spareribs, bean curd rolls and beef meatballs because they were pretty standard. However, I will talk about the chicken feet. It was not like the regular chicken feet in garlic oyster sauce. Instead, they came in a medium hot pot filled with abalone sauce. They were not fried; rather, they had been stewed in the sauce. This creates a much more gelatinous product. I personally liked this dish, the abalone flavour fully penetrated the chicken skin. Hmm... I really seem to have a chicken feet fetish eh?

For dessert, we ordered the egg tarts and the fried bitter melon glutinous balls. The egg tarts were good, with a flaky shell and a light tasting egg custard centre. However, they could've cut back on the amount of pastry. The glutinous balls were an interesting dish. The fried glutinous balls are made with rice flour flavoured and coloured with bitter melon. Inside the balls resided black sesame paste. This dessert was quite sweet, and we really didn't taste any bitter melon. It was a bit different indeed; but no one really seemed to love the dish.

This is the first time I've ever had Dim Sum at Shiang Garden and it was pretty good. The total bill came to the same amount I paid at Imperial; but we had 3 more adults! With that being said, Shiang Garden is a bit more pricey than some of other restaurants nearby. With Dim Sum finished, we survived another family meal where we are more busy attending to the kids then eating. Not to mention the picture-taking in-between!

The Good:
- Spacious, high ceiling dining room
- Good dim sum
- Some unique dishes

The Bad:
- A bit pricier than their immediate competition
- No real front entrance

Shiang Garden
4540 No. 3 Road
Richmond, B.C.
604-273-8858

Yogen Fruz

After brunch at the Crystal Mall Hilton, we headed over to Metrotown. While Viv was getting a pedicure, I decided to go get some frozen yogurt. Yes, you might be wondering why I'm getting frozen yogurt when I already just went for brunch. Well, it was my intention to get something and at least I chose something relatively healthy. The alternative was CinnZeo and that is 600 calories of buttery cinnamon goodness. In comparison, a large yogen fruz is around 300 calories. Yes, every calorie counts...

Yogen Fruz has been around for quite awhile now, since 1986 in fact. I remember once back in 1995 (yes, that long ago), Costanza and I got some Yogen Fruz on our way to lineup at A&B Sound on boxing day. Yes, we were young and stupid. Just imagine how cold we were. Since then, they've gone through a makeover of sorts lately and you could swear it looks exactly like Qoola (or does Qoola look like Yogen Fruz?). I decided to go for a large strawberry frozen yogurt. I picked strawberry because my daughter (who's only 1 and a half) was pointing aggressively at the strawberries (she loves them). After paying, much to my chagrin, she didn't want any! Luckily, Viv was happy to see the Yogen Fruz and helped me finish it.

The large was $5.00 and honestly, there was quite a bit of frozen yogurt in the cup. However, whoever put it in the cup was probably a Richmond driver because it was all over the place. Look at the picture! Isn't that the ugliest presentation of a frozen dessert in a cup ever??? Even dog poop at your neighbourhood park is more uniform than that (hmm, lost your appetite yet?). Anyways, I began eating the frozen yogurt and it was quite light tasting, not too sweet. However, it was bit icy for my liking. It is not remotely as smooth as Qoola's. Yet, it is a lot cheaper and more plentiful than a comparable item at Qoola. So here is the dilemma. We have an inferior product that is much less expensive than a superior product. Does this mean Yogen Fruz is bad? Not exactly. If you crave the best in everything, then yes, you'll probably be happier at Qoola. But, if you do not want to pay almost double for only a 20% improvement, then Yogen Fruz is more than acceptable.

The Good:
- Reasonable prices
- Light tasting, not too sweet
- Real fruit flavours

The Bad:
- It's a bit icy
- Obviously not as good as Qoola, but costs much less

Yogen Fruz
#1213 - 4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C.
604-434-4222
www.yogenfruz.com

Sunday Brunch @ Crystal Grille (Burnaby Hilton)

*Now renamed Reflect Social Dining + Lounge*

"I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food" - Erma Bombeck.

Erma has got it right, or at least I'm using it as an excuse to stuff my face again. As in my previous post about Sunday brunch at the Pan Pacific, I mentioned that the brunch at the Crystal Mall Hilton was a better value. I haven't been to the buffet brunch in awhile, and since we really didn't do a proper Mother's Day, it was a good chance to do a belated one. Naturally, a buffet of anything is never really a good way to experience good food. After all, you have food cooked in large batches and then kept warm or cold for extended periods of time. But if you take it for what it is, it can be a pleasant experience.

If we do a direct comparison to the Pan Pacific, that would be a bit unfair. First, the Pan Pacific is in a superior location, right on the waterfront and in downtown. Second, the price for the brunch at the Pan Pacific is $50, while the one at the Hilton is $30. The selection of food is nearly the same except that the Pan Pacific has a few more items. Are these extra items and the view worth $20 more? Well, let's find out! Let the gluttony begin!

Well, the gluttony never really came to fruition because I didn't end up eating that much. I started with a mimosa (included in the brunch) and had 4 or 5 more (I lost count). Suffice to say, it is truly pathetic that I got tipsy from mimosas! But not all was lost, I did end up eating 2 dishes. In the cold section, there were the usual suspects: Cured Mackerel, Smoked Salmon, Mussels (3 ways), Shrimp Cocktail, Sushi, Cold Cuts, Veggies, Cheeses, Salads, Breads and Fruit. The shrimp cocktail was very fresh. Every one of the 20+ shrimp that I ate were cold-water crunchy. Viv had the Curried Mussels and she said they were excellent being spicy and flavourful. The other items were what we expected and not much more needs to be said about them.

Moving onto the hot items, there was the requisite omelet bar. There were a modest selection of ingredients and the omelets were made-to-order. I didn't have one because I couldn't eat much else otherwise. However, I did eat a different egg product: the Eggs Benedict. This was surprisingly good, despite sitting in a warming tray for who knows how long. The egg was poached perfect, with the whites cooked all the way through and the centre still runny. The Hollandaise sauce was buttery with a bit of separation, yet it is forgivable given the situation. Other breakfast items included sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, home style hash browns, and pancakes. Again, all of these items were pretty much what is expected, except the pancakes. I know they have been sitting around for awhile; but they could have passed for a Frisbee.

The highlight of the hot food section was the Basa with Buerre Blanc sauce. Despite being in a warming tray, the fish retained it's texture and was cooked perfectly. Every flake was tender and flavourful from the buttery sauce which had a hint of dill. There was a chicken dish right beside it and honestly, I didn't know what kind of sauce it was bathed in. Viv and I tried our best, and all we could come up with was black bean (?). Still not sure. It's a moot point anyways since the chicken was overcooked (again, forgivable in this situation). There were 2 Dim Sum items in the form of Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) and Sui Mai (Pork Dumplings). The Sui Mai were okay, nothing special, especially since they didn't include shrimp. However, the Haw Gow were decent for a non-Asian buffet. Too bad they were kept in a warmer, the skin gets overcooked and gummy because of it. Right beside the omelet bar was the Roast Beef. It looked nice since it was cooked perfectly. However, the cut of meat was a bit tough. Maybe a prime rib roast would be a better choice (but I'm sure that would raise the cost of the buffet). The other items included: Spring Rolls, Fried Rice, Veggies and Ravioli.

There was a decent selection of desserts which included fresh fruit, several cakes, petits fours, cream puffs, bread pudding and canned fruit cocktail. Wait, canned fruit cocktail? Yes, I really think they should remove that. Although there will be people and kiddies who will eat it, it looked really out of place on the dessert spread. If it was Jello with fruit cocktail, that might have been better.

In terms of an upscale buffet brunch, the Hilton at Crystal Mall is a good value. Of course there are better; but for the price, it is pretty good. Naturally, you have to take into account that it is a buffet and most of the food will never be in it's perfect state. With that being said, some items were definite misses. Fortunately, there is more good than bad. As for Erma Bombeck, I really was an explorer of food today; rather than a glutton.

The Good:
- Price is reasonable
- Relaxed atmosphere
- Service is top-notch

The Bad:
- Some misses in the hot food
- Restaurant is a bit small

Crystal Grille (Crystal Mall Hilton)
6083 McKay Avenue
Burnaby, B.C.
604-639-3756

Long`s Noodle House

Quite often, I eat alone (although I hate it), especially during my lunch hour. First, it's hard to get someone to join me. Second, there isn't much time to chit chat while trying to scarf down food (and taking pictures). So it's always a treat when eating in a group, especially with like-minded individuals. Ben and Suanne, who write Chowtimes, setup this foodie get-together at Long's Noodle House. Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food), TS ([eating club] Vancouver), Christina & ET (Doesn't Tazte Like Chicken) and Angie (Sea Salt with Food) were present as well. Now, instead of people staring at me taking endless photos of my food, they can stare at a whole table of people taking pictures of food!

We left the ordering up to Ben since he's been to Long's before. We started with the Wine Chicken and it was served in a small urn. The urn was both aesthetically pleasing and served a purpose. It kept the chicken moist and soaked in the warm wine sauce. This dish was executed really well, the chicken was tender and soaked with wine flavour. Ben recommended that we save the wine sauce to mix with white rice. Served at the same time was the Wine Pig's Feet. The flavour was roughly the same; however, I got more hits of wine flavour as I gnawed through the foot. Arriving right after the pig's feet was the Shanghai Style Wheat Gluten. Mixed in with the gluten was Wood Ear Mushrooms and Golden Needles (Lily Flower). This dish was very flavourful and sweet. Too bad we didn't get the rice until later, it would've went well with it.

Of course we had to try the Xiao Long Bao since it is a Shanghainese restaurant. By looking at the Xiao Long Bao, it was obvious there was a lot of juice inside of them. The fact the buns were stuck to the parchment paper complicated things. We had to be very careful removing them, otherwise EPIC FAIL and juices everywhere! Luckily for me, I was able to remove without breakage (believe me, it was a delicate operation). Too bad for TS, she destroyed hers. The lady owner gave TS the evil eye as if: "How dare you treat my food like that!" I thought the Xiao Long Bao were pretty good, maybe the skin could've been a bit thinner; but I guess it would further complicate removing them out of the steamer.

The next dish, according to Ben, won an award (not sure what award it was, too busy eating...). The dish was Crispy Rice with Salty Egg. It's essentially rice puffs mixed with salted duck eggs. I can see why it won an award because it was really tasty. It was like eating a salty egg rice crispy. Okay, it probably tastes better than it sounds. The next dish was Fish with Wood Ear Mushrooms. I really didn't know what fish it was but it could've been sole? Whatever the case, it was a pleasant dish to eat, if not nothing special about it. The fish was cooked perfectly though. It was probably flash fried before stir-frying.

Although it's Long's Noodle House, we only ordered one noodle and it was the Sliced Spiced Beef Noodles in Soup. That's okay though, sometimes when you order 3 or 4 noodles, you're too full to eat anything else. In a very nice square bowl (nice to see something different than a round bowl), there were lots of tender beef resting on a generous amount of vermicelli. I really liked how the vermicelli soaked up the spicy flavours. The next dish was something a little bit different, it was Fried Eels with Garlic and Black Pepper Sauce. Although the dish was unique in theory, it really didn't have any taste. Viv thought it was a bit bland and for $15, a bit pricey. Fortunately the next dish was better - Stir Fried Pea Shoots with Garlic. The pea shoots were wok-fried perfectly still retaining some crunchiness. It wasn't heavily seasoned, allowing the garlic flavour to stand out. The best dish of the meal was the last one. It was Stewed Pork Hock. It consisted of a whole pork hock braised in a rich sauce (probably oyster-based sauce). The pork was fall-off-the-bone tender and the sauce had lots of depth without being salty.

We had thought the meal was finished until the lady owner asked if we wanted dessert. We mulled around the idea and decided to go for the Dow Sah Wor Beng. It's essentially a sheet of sweet red bean paste encased in spring roll wrap and deep fried. The red bean paste was both plentiful and tasty; however, I wished that the whole dessert was a bit more crispy. Other than that, it was pretty good.

Viv and I had a blast meeting for dinner with other foodies. When you get a bunch of people with the same passion, there is never a shortage of good conversation. However, it can also be quite dangerous. You see, foodies like to eat and even after a full meal with dessert, we found enough space to head over to Vivo! Gelato for some second dessert! Luckily we didn't meet for breakfast, imagine how many other meals we could've squeezed in an entire day?

Read Kim's post about it here.

The Good:
- Most items were quite inexpensive
- Overall good food
- Some unique dishes

The Bad:
- Incredibly small restaurant
- Some specialty items were really expensive

Long's Noodle House
4853 Main Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-879-7879

La Grotta Del Formaggio

So it's the long weekend, time to relax and do absolutely nothing... Yah right. When you got 2 kids, this is when you do some "family time". Since we have membership at the Vancouver Aquarium, we decided to pay them a visit. If you've been reading my other posts, you know how enamored I am towards Richmond traffic and driving. But, I must say that downtown can be pretty frustrating as well. It's not so much the clueless drivers; rather, you get the rude, rushed drivers and the clueless tourist driver. Today was no exception. We were driving through Gastown following a mini-van from Oregon. As we were approaching the intersection of Water and Cordova (heading towards Richards), the mini-van suddenly stops even though there was a green light for us. Then the mini-van cuts across to turn right onto Cordova on a red light (in front of other cars and pedestrians too). I understand that you are from out of town; but does they give you a license to cause accidents and kill people??? Then, as we were approaching the Stanley Park turnoff from Georgia, we needed to change lanes from the carpool lane. However, this limo decided to speed up and tailgate the car in front of them essentially boxing us out. Then it turns out he had to change lanes too into the other lane! #$&@#$&@#!!! Next time, I'm going to Richmond, it's actually *gasp* safer!

While we were at the Aquarium, we took in the Beluga show and all I could think about was caviar... Then as we were looking at the many species of fish, all I could think about was fish n chips. My son really wanted to look at jellyfish and while we were admiring the awe of the big jellyfish, all I could think about was Chinese marinaded jellyfish! I think we needed to leave and find some food. Otherwise I'm not sure what I would be thinking of at the otter exhibit. On our way out of downtown, I convinced Viv to lineup for 20 minutes to get a Japadog. We only shared a Misomayo dog because we had to save some room for a sandwich. You chose a sandwich over eating more Japadogs? Yes, but this is no ordinary sandwich. We are talking about a La Grotta Del Formaggio sandwich. A what?

We are talking about the "cavern of cheese" on The Drive (Commerical Drive) in Vancouver. Yes, they sell a lot of deli items and many different cheeses. But their real draw are the fabulous sandwiches. Viv has been telling me about them for awhile. She's had them many times since she works nearby. Today, we wanted to pick one up as we headed over to meet up with Costanza at Confederation Park. For around $12 you get a humongous grilled focaccia sandwich with your choice of meat, cheese and a multitude of high quality ingredients such as artichoke hearts and roasted peppers. This sandwich is so large, it easily feeds 2, maybe more. As we were busily munching them down at the park, random people commented and inquired about the sandwich. Yes, they look and taste that good! Costanza suggested that we should've bought more and re-sold them at the park. Interesting idea; however, that would really take away from some serious eating time. And you know I wouldn't do that!

The Good:
- High quality ingredients
- They are not shy about stuffing the sandwich full of stuff
- Excellent value

The Bad:
- It's a messy sandwich to eat (especially if you add fatty cheese)

La Grotto Del Formaggio
1791 Commerical Drive
Vancouver, B.C.
604-255-3911

Mink Chocolates

After Dim Sum at Imperial, Whipping Girl insisted that we go visit Mink Chocolates. I normally do not eat a lot of chocolates; but I do get into it during Christmas. I had to put more money in the meter along the way - freakin' $2 for 24 minutes!!! So not being much of a chocolate connoisseur, I really didn't know what Mink was all about when Whipping Girl mentioned it to me whilst I was munching on chicken feet.

As we walked up to Mink, I got the idea. A place where you can get chocolate, treats and a beverage. It looked pretty trendy and I was beginning to be afraid that it would be all looks and no substance. Imagine that, all looks no substance, in downtown... Anyways, it was a glorious day in Downtown Vancouver, with the sun shining bright, the birds chirping, people bustling and temperature rising. Great day for hot chocolate, right? Yah, that's what I thought too when Whipping Girl ordered up 2 hot chocolates. Was she trying to kill me? Well, with skepticism in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other, we left Mink. Before I had a chance to take a sip, Whipping Girl explained if she was having a bad day, she would come down to Mink for some chocolate goodness. Hmmm... When I have a bad day, I just look at pictures of food. Am I the only one that does that??? Yes, I'm an ice hockey goalie... but I'm not crazy!

So I finally got a chance to take a sip of hot chocolate in the beautiful sunshine. Whipping Girl looked on with great anticipation. I thought to myself, what's the big deal? It's hot chocolate, how good can it be??? Well, one sip and I immediately could tell that this was no ordinary hot chocolate. Oh no, not that powdered crap you get out of a vending machine at the law courts or at the AQ at Simon Fraser. It was smooth, sweet, sensual (?) and not burning hot. I was looking for adjectives to describe this heavenly drink and settled on, "It tastes like I'm drinking a chocolate bar". Whipping Girl actually helped me finish the sentence as if she was reading my mind. Yes, the chocolate flavour was bursting with yummy vanilla sweetness. I couldn't believe I was ranting and raving about a hot chocolate. The piece of extra dark chocolate that accompanied the beverage was just plain good. I'm not a chocolate connoisseur, so I don't really have the adjectives to describe it. You have to trust me (famous last words). As I got into my car, Whipping Girl seem content walking away, again earning props from moi regarding her Mink recommendation.

The Good:
- The place has a good vibe - trendy and inviting
- Excellent hot chocolate
- Good chocolate

The Bad:
- Well, with anything trendy and good, it doesn't come cheap
- Not really a huge selection

Mink Chocolates
863 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-633-2451
www.minkchocolates.com