Suanne and I had just sent off our boys for summer camp. They will be away for a full two weeks in Vancouver Island. While they are away, Suanne and I took the opportunity to scoot off on a vacation on our own.
We did not want to go far for dinner because we had to get to the airport in just a couple of hours. We drove down to Granville in Richmond and found this place called Wing Kee.
Wing Kee (also known as New Wing Kee) is located on the south side of Granville between Buswell and St Albans. From the outside, it looked very plain. Not really caring what we wanted we went in … and found a gem of a place.
Wing Kee seems like a Cantonese place as everyone speaks impeccable Cantonese here. I am not sure about you but I swear can make out the difference between a Mainland China Chinese and non-Mainland China Chinese. Here, the customers speaks, dresses and behaves very much like the “older” generation of Chinese immigrants … i.e. the folks from Hongkong who migrated to Vancouver in droves in the 1990s before HK were reverted to China.
One thing I observed too … that it seems like they are expert foodies here and ordering unique dishes food that we had never quite seen before.
We ordered from the English menu. I so wished I could read Chinese as the special dishes are pasted on the wall, just like they do in old China. Expert foodies ordered from these on the wall while we ordered from the English menu. Sigh … the English menu had chop suey on it.
I leave the ordering of Chinese Tea to Suanne. She ordered “Heung Peen”. I can’t really tell one type of Chinese Tea to another. So … can you tell me your favourite type of Chinese Tea and tell me why you like it? We will try to order different types next time.
Besides “Heung Peen”, Suanne sometimes orders “Tit Goon Yum” and “Gook Bow” (that’s in Cantonese).
Suanne and I ordered two dishes. The first one was the Egg White Spinach. We decided on this by pointing to the neighboring tables and not from the English menu. It was an excellent dish.
The dish contained a mish mash of eggs … century eggs, salted eggs, and egg white. We especially liked roasted garlic cloves which balances out the slight saltiness from the eggs. The broth too was great. This must have been only of Wing Kee’s specialty as quite a lot of tables ordered this.
Wing Kee boasted that their Hongkong Style Fried Crab is “Best Taste in Town. Guaranteed!”. It is written on the walls and on the front of their menu. And since we see quite a lot of tables also had crab, we ordered that too.
This one costs $11.80 per pound. We ordered 1 crab and it came at almost 3 lbs and also quite meaty too. It is slightly spicy and surprisingly very moist. We enjoyed this a lot and highly recommend you try it for yourself.
They gave free dessert which we appreciated a lot.
Besides crabs, I see a few tables ordering lobster too. I had no idea how much that will cost as it is served in quite an elaborate manner — it came in something like three separate servings.
The meal costs $53 including tips and taxes. It’s quite expensive don’t you think? However, I highly recommend Wing Kee.
Alright … starting tomorrow, I’ll start in a new series. This will be a series of our 2 week vacation to Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. Stay tuned.
Business Hour
Sun to Thu: 4:00 pm to 3:00 am
Fri & Sat: 4:00 pm to 4:00 am
can’t wait!
This place reminds me of the Happy King Restaurant at 2800 East First Av. in East Vancouver. It is in the upper section just opposite the Scotia Bank at the corner of First Av and Renfrew. There are a bunch of other restaurants around there. So why mention this one?
First, it serves Peking(Beijing)duck whenever it is open which is almost all day and night, and all for $28. You get the duck skin on shrimp crackers and then an additional dish of duck meat with diced vegetables for a vetable wrap.
They close at 1 AM weekdays and 2 AM weekends. Don’t worry, it is not a gang-infested place.
Their dunginess crabs are only $4.99 per pound, cooked your style. It was $3.99 couple of weeks ago. Fresh and alive. They also have an assortment of other fresh seafoods including lobsters.
They have specials for different parts of the day (like at Congee House). Best prices in mid-afternoon and late night (siu yea).
I have tried their won ton noodles and shrimp dumplings (sui kow). They were excellent. Noodles were very crunchy. Servings larger than Mak’s in Alexandra in RIchmond.
Not sure it is worth driving the distance if you are in Richmond or on the West side. But it is certainly very convenient for East and even North Vancouver.
“Here, the customers speaks, dresses and behaves very much like the “older” generation of Chinese immigrants … i.e. the folks from Hongkong who migrated to Vancouver in droves in the 1990s before HK were reverted to China.”
Ben, if one were to say “older generation” of Cantonese immigrants, that is more likely to be those who came in the 60’s/70’s. And of course those who came even earlier are still around, however that generation is beginning to “pass the torch”.
Pretty soon I’ll qualify as a “Lo Wah Kiu” having been the “Class of ’76” …… maybe I’ll spend my mornings hanging out at New Town Bakery in Chinatown [grin]
Chrysanthemum tea has a very nice taste and is just light enough for the morning. or actually anytime in the day. But usually only goes really well with Asian food. Tea and pizza is a NO ^_^
I just went there yesterday with my family. The Chinese food there were very tasty, espically the chicken wings. I would recommand to all the people who loves Asian food should go there and eat. They have tons of food to choose from, and the food there arent that expensive too.
Some good things about that restaurant is it can deliver right into your door within 45mins or less. The food there were delicious, and not only that, they have good service too. I enjoyed eatting there, im sure you all would too. Its one of the best Chinese restruant in richmond, and by the way im going there tonight for some crabs!!
There were lots of parking spots for cars, so i had no problem getting in there. Really good service, has lots of things in each category. Comes with desert ,and has a wide screen tv to watch.
Hi All: Just ignore the comments from Rainny, thomas and Jacky. The comments are all from the same IP address. It does seems like whoever he is, he is trying to jack up Wing Kee. Well, just for the heck of it, Wing Kee had once been closed by the Vancouver Coastal Health sometime last year for (1) rodent infestation, and (2) unsanitary conditions. See link here: http://forum.loyaukee.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=10199 … let’s face it, the restaurant is not bad but chowtimes is not urbanspoon or dinehere.ca where one can make up fake reviews. Sorry “Rainny”. Sorry “thomas”. Sorry “Jacky”.
Actually, I don’t mind if restaurant owners or people affiliated with restaurants commenting on chowtimes. However, I expect them to identify themselves openly. I would be more than glad to have restaurant owners have a voice on chowtimes as much as everyone else.
It’s a good thing that you did your ip check. I was kinda surprise to see that kind of positive comments for such a crappy restaurant. Oh well, if they think we’re stupid to believe their false reviews, then they should think again.
Actually Wing Kee was closed by VCH twice in 2009. Once in January for 7 days and once in August for 5 days. Alright, that was more than a year ago and had been clean since then.
sorry and please forgive me for going around and write random things. i wll never do it again.
opps i was meant to say rainny jacky and thomas