Western Lake

OMG. We had to go for dinner with my Mother-in-Law again...  The last time, she was dissing everyone in the room even though her form of whispering would make a jackhammer sound quiet.  Embarassing.  That's how Viv felt through the entire ordeal.  But there was no escaping this time as she invited MY parents to dinner.  Oh great.  Now they have to listen to her grandstanding and boasting about things when she clearly doesn't have a clue.  At the very least, we were going to Western Lake (a solid pick for Chinese food).

Much like last time we were here, we started with the first course of the Peking Duck.  Super attractive with a dark red hue, the skin was completely on point.  It was lightly crispy with minimal fat.  Some pieces retained some meat and it was tender and flavourful.  The freshly steamed crepes were a little doughy for us though.  The second course was the usual Duck Lettuce Wrap which sported a considerable amount of wok heat and caramelization.  It showed in its appearance and taste.  There was no excess saltiness though as the dark soy was only a colouring agent rather than to flavour.  As a result, the well-seasoned duck was able to stand on its own.  I wasn't a huge fan of the lettuce as the pieces were too large and overly wet.

Served on a bed of egg noodles (extra charge), the large Lobster in Consomme was expertly prepared.  Although the colour was a bit off, the meat itself was just cooked exhibiting a sweet bounce texture.  There was plenty of moisture left as each nugget of meat was not dry in any shape or form.  The consume sauce was a touch on the salty side, but not overly so.  They didn't skimp on the noodles, which were appealingly chewy.  We also got the 2 courses of Sturgeon starting with the Fish Soup consisting of tofu, mustard greens, straw mushrooms and ginger.  This was a well-balanced broth with the sweetness of fish, brightness of ginger and bitterness of the mustard greens.  In addition, there was just enough sodium that it didn't get too salty.

The second course was the Fish Fillets with Choy Sum.  This exhibited good wok heat where there was little moisture on the plate.  The choy sum was crunchy and vibrant in colour while the fish was slightly over-fried, yet still flaky and moist.  Seasoning was pretty aggressive though bordering on salty.  Moreover, they were heavy handed with the grease as I had to wipe my mouth after every bite.  Continuing with veggies, we had the Pea Shoots with Crab and egg white sauce.  I found the pea shoots to be just a tad overdone where it lost some of its crunch.  The silky starch-thickened sauce was just salty enough to season the pea shoots.  The ample amount of crab was a bit disappointing though as it was no longer fluffy.

Our last dish was rather interesting with Shrimp Mousse Stuffed Sea Cucumber atop boiled lettuce.  The sea cucumber itself was a bit too soft for my liking, but it hadn't melted.  The shrimp mousse was very good with a nice rebound texture as well as a sweet flavour.  Somehow, we all agreed the use of lettuce was inappropriate for this dish as it was both aesthetically not pleasing as well as becoming a watery mess. For dessert, we had one of my faves being the Baked Tapioca Pudding with lotus paste and sweet buttery topping.  This was pretty good where was just enough lotus paste for effect that didn't make things overly sweet.  The topping was crumbly and slightly crispy.  This was a fine way to end a pretty good meal overall.  It was remarkably better than the one we had a year ago which was a relief (as we thought WL had gone downhill).

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced for the quality
- Large portions
- All-around good food

The Bad:
- Not the most comfortable seating arrangements
- Service is so-so   

Shanghai House

Once again, it's time to vote for your favourite Chinese dishes in the Chinese Restaurant Awards.  This time around, the Blogger's Choice Award will be known at the Social Media Choice.  Different name, but same mission - find the best of the 5 dishes selected.  We met up at Shanghai House to sample the Drunken Chicken (or Wine Chicken) at Shanghai House as it is one of the aforementioned dishes including Szechuan Water-Boiled Fish, BBQ Duck, Taiwanese Pork Rice and Mango Sago.

Kicking things off was ironically the Wine Chicken sitting in a generous pool of sauce.  As a result, there was no absence of xiaoshing wine flavour.  This made for an impactful essence as well as enough flavour for the whole dish.  There was also a good amount of saltiness.  However, the chicken itself was rather dry and lifeless.  On the other hand, the skin was nicely gelatinized with a thin layer of actual gelatin underneath.  Up next, the Hot & Sour Soup looked appetizing with rich dark hue.  Unfortunately, the broth itself lacked depth-of-flavour and merely reflected the seasoning of vinegar and chili oil.  On the positive side, the viscosity was on point while there was no absence of ingredients including the appealing crunch of wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots (although the shoots were overpowering).

I was pretty excited to try the Xiao Long Bao because I barely remembered the last time I tried it here.  Well, they were a bit disappointing because the filling was too loose and mushy.  There was a good amount of soup though with a definite ginger and wine hit.  The dumpling skin was a touch chewy, but nicely thin throughout.  As much as Miss Vancouver Piggy warned me about the Garlic Pork, we ordered it anyways.  Well, we should've listened to her as it was not very good.  The slices of pork were chewy and not fatty enough.  A much as there was plenty of garlic, the overall flavour profile was weak with a lack of savouriness and spice.  I did enjoy the chewy cellophane noodles though.

A dish I could smell even before it hit the table was the Stir-Fried Pork Kidney.  In fact, it tasted very much like the pungent aroma emanating from the plate.  That wasn't necessarily a good thing though as we thought the kidney could've been prepped better as it was too strong.  In terms of execution, the kidney was woefully overdone being hard and chewy.  There was a decent wok heat to the dish though with caramelized sweetness.  As enticing as Tofu with Crab sounded, the dish itself was a letdown.  I found that the starch-thicken sauce on top was fairly bland and lacking any impact.  There was a decent amount of fluffy crab present, but I didn't notice it much.  The tofu was good though being silky and intact.

We then had a dish that I've not eaten in a very long time.  Essentially "Singing Rice", the stach-thickened sauce with seafood and veggies make the crunchy rice crackle and pop (copyright infringement?) as it is poured on top.  Well, it didn't make much noise due to the overly firm toasted rice.  As for the sauce, it was fairly bland, but the ingredients were texturally on point.  So with our incessant-picture taking, I think they noticed and decided to comp us dessert in the form of Steamed Sponge Cake.  These multicoloured cakes were pretty to look at, but ultimately disgusting to eat.  They were mealy and crumbly with a raw flour flavour.  This pretty much summed up the food at Shanghai House though - hit and miss (mostly miss).

The Good:
- Nice dining space
- "Okay eats"

The Bad:
- "Okay eats" in Richmond means better choices available
- Hit and miss

Late Night @ Hapa Izakaya (Yaletown)

Despite the complete revamping of the food and beverage services at Rogers Arena, it is still a pricey proposition.  Grace and I were at their mercy while watching a Canucks game and I just had to get something to eat.  I did the boring thing and had Triple O's despite the array of new options.  Yet, I saved a bit of room for after-the-game eats as we made our way to Hapa Yaletown.  Being late night, they were only serving their late night menu.  It became even more limited when we were informed that they had run out of ramen.

No matter, as we ordered everything else beginning with the Corn Karaage.  This was an interesting dish as the aroma of the fried corn was pretty intoxicating.  In terms of texture, it was a little tough on the outside.  However, beyond that, there was sweet pulp underneath that was accented by the light seasoning.  Thinly sliced and completely rare other than the thin outer ring, the Beef Tataki was fairly tender and buttery.  As much as the chili sauce added some spice and sweetness, I would've preferred the usual ponzu instead.

Onto the Dry Ribs, these were lightly crispy on the outside while mildly salted.  The meat itself was rather chewy with a rebound texture. I found the pieces that were attached to actual bone were meaty and relatively easy to eat.  However, the ones that featured more cartilage and fat were not that pleasing.  Back to the raw food, we had the Negitoro served with crostinis.  The small amount of tuna was fairly buttery and soft.  There was a balanced amount of scallions mixed in while the amount of seasoning was a little heavy.  It was on the saltier side, but not too bad.

With an interlude of sorts, we got the Assorted Pickles with Shibazuki, Takuan and Kyurizuke.  My favourite of the bunch were the yellow takuan (usually found in oshinko rolls).  It was crunchy with the usual tartness.  The other 2 were also good and did not seem out of sorts.  Arriving in a brown paper bag, the appropriately named Paper Bag Prawns were fried until crispy.  With a squeeze of charred lemon, the whole thing, shell and all, were crunchy and lightly coated and salted.  Although they were a touch greasy, the paper bag helped absorb it. Inside, the prawns were meaty and naturally sweet.  These went well with my Asahi.

For no other reason that the 2 ramens were sold out, we ordered the Kimchi.  Normally, we wouldn't get this but there was nothing else to choose from!  This was okay with a pleasant crunch and slight spice.  There was a tang, but for me at least, it wasn't "seafoody" enough (if that makes sense).  Lastly, we had the Lobster Roll which featured nori on the outside and fried tempura-style.  Although we could see the lobster, there wasn't a whole lot of flavour.  The roll was fine though with chewy rice and a crispy exterior.  So by now, if you were wondering why my descriptions were "blah", it directly reflects the late night menu items we tried.  They were mostly fine, but it made us long for the regular menu (which we love).

The Good:
- Reasonable prices considering food and location
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Limited late night menu