All Entries Tagged With: "Shanghai"
Tai Yau Yick Shanghai Restaurant on Anderson Road, Richmond
Here is one more post written based on the recommendation of a chowtimes reader …
Last month Deborah wrote an email to us saying:
Hi Ben, I noticed you tried a lot of places in Richmond. If I may, I would suggest you try a place on Anderson Rd called Tai Yau Yick Restaurant. Its a hole in the ground but the food is very delicious. I would suggest you get the pork chop on rice, tofu, deep fried chicken wings, and beef pancake. Do not order the xiao long bao’s here, you can get better ones at other shanghai restaurants. The old lady that runs the place doesn’t speak english, but she is very sweet
We had actually been to Tai Yau Yick before. It was quite a long time ago. I distinctly remember that it was one of those rare moments that we forgot to bring along the camera. So we did not blog about it.
These days, we never forget to bring the camera. It is second nature to us now. I might forget to bring the wallet or the house keys when I go out, but I never forget the camera. Is this a sad thing? LOL!
Tai Yau Yick is located on Anderson Road and near the Richmond City Hall. It is also located just next door to Diary Queen.
Parking here is not a problem. It is a small strip mall and we always have parking spots available all the time.
Tai Yau Yick is a small place. There are about five tables only. They can barely fit in 20 people. The place does look much neater than we remembered some years ago. The tables looked newer and they have wallpapered and painted the walls.
There is very little you will not like about Tai Yau Yick. It is waited by an elderly lady who speaks perfect Cantonese despite that they call this a Shanghainese restaurant. I asked the lady if the chef is Shanghainese. She said that they are all Cantonese but they specialize in Shanghainese and Taiwanese Cuisine.
Their menu acts like an order form. This is like what you see in some hot pot and dim sum places where you check and specify the quantity you want. What do you think with this method? I think it’s good idea in making sure they don’t misunderstand your order. It is also more efficient for the restaurant too if you already are familiar with their menu.
They place the order form with a pencil on the table but the order form is in Chinese. You have to ask them for the English version.
We decided to try their soybean milk. You can opt for either sweet ($1.75) or salty ($2.50).
We tried the salty version. Because we did not know that the soybean milk comes with a few Chinese doughnuts in it, we ordered a side order of the Chinese doughnut ($2).
The warm soybean milk is more savory than it is salty. In the soybean milk are green onions, dried shrimp and preserved vegetable (jar choy).
It is actually a good thing we ordered a side of Chinese Doughnut. They are very good … as it is still crispy when we dunk into soybean milk, unlike those that sit in the soymilk that became soggy. The crunch explodes in your mouth.
But it is also oily though. Suanne said that this must be the Taiwanese style doughnut.
Suanne was surprised that I ordered this Soybean Bitter Melon ($2.90). She knows I have never liked bitter melon. Also our boys refused to touch it.
I wanted to try it because it is unique. Moreover, I know that if I don’t like it, Suanne will finish it.
It was bitter alright although the soybean sauce that it was steamed in took away a lot of the bitterness. It is an acquired taste kind of thing.
Suanne insisted I to eat half of my share but I just picked the smaller piece. I love Suanne.
The name Red Hot Dumpling ($4.80) sounded so good that we also ordered that. They do every dish very well. Not only is the dumpling well made, we like the sweet and spicy sauce it is served in. The spiciness is light at first but gradually intensify in the mouth. Nice.
For the boys, we got a sticky rice for them. They like sticky rice. So we had the Taiwanese Style Sticky Rice Roll ($5.50).
We thought it was going to be like one of those glutinous rice roll with filling inside (you know, the ones that you can buy freshly made in T&T?). Instead, the rice is … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Lin Chinese Restaurant on Broadway and Granville, Vancouver
No more TBNs (Taiwanese Beef Noodles) and Hongkong Style Cafe (HKSC) for the next little while. I am tired of the topic. Let’s switch subjects … Shanghainese Cuisine this time. Heck, lets make an acronym for them. Let’s call them SHC, shall we? LOL!
Question … between Vancouver and Richmond, which city has the best Shanghainese restaurant?
It is not because I live in Richmond, but I seriously think that Richmond has the greater concentration of top notch SHC restaurants in Metro Vancouver.
I had learned that the best yardstick to determine a good SHC restaurant is how well they make the Xiao Long Bao (XLB).
While Richmond has the greater concentration of SHC restaurants, Vancouver lay claim to having the best XLB. To those who are not familiar with XLB, it is known as Soup Dumplings in English. That’s right. There are scalding hot soup in that innocent looking dumpling.
There is a way to eat it too. Never EVER pop one into your mouth and bite into it. The best way is to first bite off a hole on the side and slowly slurp the delicious soup. Suanne insists that it is the wrong way. She argued that one must bit off the top first. I think she had been watching too much Chinese cuisine TV shows.
This plaque says it all. Lin Chinese Cuisine won last year’s award from the more coveted Critic’s Choice award.
Lin Chinese Cuisine is located on Broadway with Granville. Lin is not like the SHC restaurants you find in Richmond. Not only it serves really good Shanghainese food, they seem to offer items like spring rolls, hot and sour soup, lemon chicken and even bubble tea. They also have $7 lunch specials. They even have roti canai! I won’t be surprised if Chinese food connoisseurs do not pay much attention to Lin.
Lin is located right in front of a busy bus stand. I reckon that is why they have varied menus to cater to all customers. Lin’s location used to be Galing-Galing, a popular Filipino restaurant. That was 2 years ago.
The insides is nice and bright. We like the orangey theme. However, the layout is more like a cafe than it is a high end SHC restaurant.
Service is really good. Our waitress was especially chatty and was the one who insisted we get their XLB. She even proudly point out their XLB plaque to me and egged me to walk over to have a closer look when I feigned skepticism.
Their customer base is definitely not like those you find in Richmond’s SHC restaurants where you have almost exclusively Asian customers in big parties. In Lin, they have customers coming in from all walks of life and ethnic background. And their customer parties are smaller … usually 2-3 people.
I had always heard that the chef/owner of Lins is the same people behind The Place on south Granville. That does not seem to be the case. Our waitress was puzzled when I asked for her confirmation. Instead she said that the chef/owners are from Burnaby and Richmond. She rattled off some names in Chinese which I was not familiar with.
While the XLB is really good, I would not say it is the best. To me, the best XLB also has to have the thinness of skin that is almost translucent. I had seen some XLBs that are so thin that they sit almost flat in the basket.
It is a little smaller than I am used to but very juicy and tasty. The bamboo basket they are served in is noticeably seasoned like it had been used for years.
But I won’t take anything else from them. Their award winning XLB is excellent and is worth the try. The best thing is it is just $5.
The other appetizer we got was their Radish Cake which also costs $5. Oh man, Lin made this … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Suhang Restaurant on Ackroyd Road, Richmond
There are a lot Shanghainese restaurants in Richmond. For the great majority of them, each of the restaurants are very good. A few really good ones comes to mind:
Here is one more that is worthy to be considered as one of the best Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond.
Suhang Restaurant had flown under our radar all these while. We were not even aware of its existence … never heard of it because it was not discussed on the internet.
Moreover, their location is less than ideal. It is on Ackroyd Road in the little strip mall where Nandos is. For most people who drives along Ackroyd, the view of Suhang from the road is not apparent. It is partly covered by the jutting building next door and partly by Nandos.
We would not have known about it until Steven told us about it. Remember Steven? He was the foodie reader who wrote us a 4-page recommendation of Vietnamese Cuisine. He was the one who led us to discover Thien Kim, the pho place where we had “4 types of Vietnamese Noodle Soup, none of which is Pho“.
Apparently Suhang had been opened for two years already.
The moment we walked into Suhang, we were already impressed. The restaurant was packed that night. Apparently it is popular. It is an upscale restaurant, not upscale-upscale but pretty fancy. It is bright and clean. The service is really good, staffed by experienced captains.
Based on Steven’s enthusiastic and detailed description of Suhang and what we see the moment we walked on, the first thing that popped into my mind is “hidden gem”. This looked so promising.
Suanne and I made arrangements to meet up with Steven and Jaime. Steven told us that Suhang is named after two cities outside of Shanghai. I can’t remember the exact name but for those of you who can read Chinese, you will probably know which two cities.
On to the food.
Steven and Jaime had to pre-order this item. We are a bit confused with this name but you know how it is with some translations. On one hand Steven refers this to as the 8-Treasure Duck but when we look at the menu it seems to read … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Shanghai JJ Restaurant on No 3 Road, Richmond
Do you reckon that location is the most important aspect when opening a new restaurant?
There is something about this particular restaurant location on the strip mall across the No 3 Road from the Richmond Center. Located in the middle of this strip mall is always a Shanghainese restaurant. Over the ten years since we moved to Richmond, the restaurant operations changed hands a number of times.
Ten years ago, this shop lot was the original location of the Chen’s Shanghai Restaurant. They were quite a small family operation back then. Today they are one of the better Shanghainese restaurants in Richmond having won a number of awards recently.
At one point, there was another restaurant called Shanghai Wind. From what I heard, that restaurant too became successful and had to move out to a bigger and better location. Shanghai Wind became Shanghai Wonderful, which is another successful Shanghainese Restaurant in Richmond.
Up until the early part of this year, it was Da Hong Yun Shanghai Restaurant that operated here. Their food was good but we found it pricey, However, they had closed. Does anyone know what happened to them?
In this place today is yet another Shanghainese Restaurant. This one is called the Shanghai JJ Restaurant. They told us that they had already been opened for business for 8 months now. So I guess they are doing OK.
The place looked the same except for a fresh coat of paint. It does look cleaner.
As soon as we got seated they handed us their menu. We did not even look at it. We set it aside and instead …
… we walked to the wall where they had posted delicious looking pictures of their dishes. This is definitely the best way to order food, don’t you think? As odd as it may feel to some of you, I made our order standing in front of the wall and pointing out what we wanted.
What I like is that many of their dishes are unique that you don’t normally find in other Chinese restaurants.
I can’t help but to compare them with the time when this place was Shanghai Wind (Shanghai Wonderful). Back then this small restaurant was absolutely packed and one had to wait a long time for a table. Shanghai JJ is quite full but they did not have people waiting for a table like when it was Shanghai Wind.
Their Xiao Long Bau is noticeably smaller than what we are used to. It is $4 for 6 pieces. The XLB is quite decent but it was disappointing that one of them was served broken. He he he … to us all pieces of the XLB must be served intact with the soup otherwise it is not good. That is like the litmus test for XLB.
BTW, I want to know what is the right Chinese word to describe ordering dishes. You know like ordering a few dishes communal style with a side of steamed rice? Suanne and I call it “chau choy” in Cantonese but I think there is a better word for it. What is it?
When we have four in the family out for dinner like this, we normally would order three different dishes to share. It would be made up of one soup, one meat and one veggie dish.
The Shanghai Style Soup with Assorted Food costs $13. It has … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Shanghai River on Westminster Highway, Richmond
This is so cool.
I don’t mean the restaurant only.
I used to start off our restaurant review with a image of the restaurant front like the one above. From now onwards, I don’t need to do that anymore. I can do better.
I could easily use Google Map’s Street View now. Like this one below:
Go ahead. Click all over the Street View. You can pan 360°. You can zoom in and out. The images are sharp. Cool, huh?
Alright … back to the restaurant. Shanghai River is one of the more popular Shanghainese restaurants in Richmond and they are successful for several good reasons too.
This restaurant is located on Westminster Highway, just west of No 3 Road. Parking is at a premium in the covered parkade just right of the restaurant. You have to be careful where you park because the stalls are marked.
Reservation is highly recommended at Shanghai River. We were there early at 11:15AM without a reservation and had to wait 30 minutes for a table. The restaurant is large and they turn the tables quite fast. Even then there is a long line. At about 11:30AM, they were already turning away walk-ins and even the calls for reservation for lunch that day. We were just by the waiting area and overheard the incoming phone calls. That tells us we are in the right place.
Bright lightings, tables with double layered table cloth and comfy chair … polite waitresses … efficient and courteous service. They even have a bar. see From these alone I would have thought that this will be a pricey place. I was quite wrong.
The dining area is bustling and very noticeably noisy. Do you think Chinese talks too loudly when dining? LOL! I think we do.
I love their menu. All menus should be like these … well laid out with pictures and English translations. I was thinking that Gweilos would be very comfortable with eating here. Just point to the pictures you fancy and you’re set.
I used the word Gweilo in an affectionate way OK? Maybe I should use the word Sai Yan to refer to Whites or Causasians but the term Gweilo sounds more personal.
Anyway, the surprising thing was that a lot of their Shanghai Style Dim Sum items are under $10 and even main dishes are at the range of $12.
Unlike many Chinese restaurants, Shanghai River’s service is exceptional. The staff were very polite and cheerful to us. I can’t help but notice how well-groomed, young and well-trained the staff are. Their uniform is well fitted. Really, it tells me that they are like the Cactus Club with an Asian twist. I just like them, especially because they were so busy and yet able to appear composed at the tables.
On the menu, they call themselves the Master of Dim Sum. Like any respectable Shanghainese restaurants, they have an open glass enclosed kitchen where they make Xiao Long Bau in plain view of the diners. They have stacks of bamboo baskets so I guess they are very popular here. BTW, for those of you who don’t know … Xiao Long Bao literally means mini dumplings in bamboo baskets in Mandarin.
We decided to get something special. Instead of the normal Xiao Long Bao, we had the Shanghai Dumpling with Crab Meat.
It is beauty. They make it very well. The skin is of the right thickness and is very … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Long’s Noodle House — Revisited with Food Bloggers
I am a procrastinator … it’s in the genes. I know that. But the thing is that I remember what I said I would do. It might take me a long while but I will eventually get down to it. Like saying “let’s do it in a couple weeks” … and carrying it through in seven months. That is me. That is Ben.
I had been talking to Christina and ET (Doesn’t TasZte Like Chicken) about organizing a gathering since last fall. This time I carried through. So, I organized one with the bloggers that I had met at one point or another before. Being the organizer, I went with the choice of a restaurant that I know will work … that I had been there before, knows the menu, not too expensive and will meet the demands from bloggers.
So we met at Long’s Noodle House. See my previous review here. Suanne made the reservation a few days before. With Long’s you want to make sure you make a reservation because they are always packed for dinner. Moreover, their restaurant is small. When Suanne made the reservation, she tried to order some of their dishes that need to be ordered at least a day ahead but they were too busy to entertain her at that time. It was no big deal because all their other dishes are pretty good.
Wine Chicken … $6. This is my favourite dish in Long’s. I’ll not expand on this as I had already blogged about this dish before.
The dish above is the one which won the “Most Innovative Dish” award last year. It is Crispy Rice with Salted Egg Yolk. It is an unique dish but is somewhat simple dish too to me. I am quite surprised that a dish of such simplicity could have won the most innovative dish award.
No 1 Shanghai Cuisine on No 3 Road, Richmond
You will like Sherman … and his wife Vivian. Sherman is an up and coming Vancouver area food blogger. His blog is simply called Sherman’s Food Adventures. Suanne and I sometime find it such a chore to blog once a day but Sherman, he does it as often as three times a day!
I told Suanne that we should get to know Sherman because like us, he often goes to the type of restaurants we normally go to too. The choice of the place was easy for us. We wanted to check out the new Shanghainese restaurant.
BTW, before I go on, Arkensen had a good question. Firstly, is there such a word as Shanghainese? I think there is because I hear a lot of people use the word. Now, if Shanghainese is a word, then why is it not called “Shanghaian” instead. Help me figure out a good answer for Arkensen.
The No 1 Shanghai Cuisine is located on No 3 Road at the same spot of the now closed Also fusion restaurant. It’s at the same area where HKYK is — you’ll never miss it if you are familiar with No 3 Road.
We were not too impressed with the interiors. It does seems that they had retained the odd oval arrangement from the previous tenant. So, the round dining tables were quite haphazardly arranged and quite difficult to manouver around. Color coordination was poorly done too — quite evident from the clash of colors from the table cloth to the curtains and ceiling. Not that it is a problem but it was just obvious that I had to mention it.
But it was really busy on the Saturday lunch time we were there. So that is a good sign.
They have a menu that covers a wide range … from simple $6 noodle dishes to $320 sharkfin soup on their menu. We decided to stick with the simpler choices (kids love them). I ordered quite randomly and at the end we had way too much food.
Their Dan Dan Noodle ($5.50) was chokingly hot … you know, the type that makes you cough if you try to eat it too fast. The peanuts were really good and added so much flavour to it. Dan Dan Noodles are supposed to be dirt cheap (we used to have one that is only $2). So, I did notice that this is rather “expensive” at $5.50.
We actually ordered two baskets of Xiao Long Baos (no pictures) but it was not very good … just OK.
The Shanghai Thick Noodle Soup was flavourful. I just love the thick soup. This reminds of the Loh Mein that I used to eat for supper in my younger days. This is just $6.50.
What Suanne and I enjoyed most was the thing called “Sticky Rice with Flavour”. We had expected this to be the normal salty sticky rice but it came in a much larger serving drenched with some sweet sticky gooey thingy. It’s more like a dessert really. I highly recommend you try this as this is not a common dish. $7.50.
