This is a long overdue post. This was another dim sum meeting with Michelle, a reader of chowtimes. We met up for the first time at Red Star Seafood Restaurant. Before she left Vancouver, I managed to meet up with her again. This time we had dim sum at Gingeri Chinese Cuisine in Lansdowne Mall, Richmond.

Gingeri offers a 20% discount if you dine between 9am and 11am.

We were there past noon, and the place was buzzing with people.  I like the high ceiling and cleanliness of the cutleries, even the bamboo baskets look new unlike some dim sum place where the bamboo baskets are really worn out. The waiter/waitress is friendly and helpful.

The price of the dim sum ranges from $3.75 to $6.80. Click on the images above to have a larger view.

We ordered Chrysanthemum tea for a change.

The above is called Seafood Salad Tarts with Thin Gold on top. This one costs $5.20. It has corn, crab meat, large prawn and the salad dressing imparts richness to the already sweetish tart.

We were enticed to order this by the ‘Gold’ on top.  This is a delicate piece of dim sum. One thing we noticed is that… the serving dishes here are relatively small. They are just right for the size of the dim sum. This somehow makes the dishes look small.

The above is Poached Fish Paste with 1000 years egg in dumplings for $4.20. It has a unique taste and texture imparted by the 1000 years egg. They are soft.

The Shaomai with Chinese Mushroom was recommended by the server. The server told us this item is very popular here. This is $4.75. Unfortunately, we were not able to detect any difference from other dim sum places. They are bouncy though.

Here is what I meant about their bamboo basket sizes. Usually, you get standard size baskets. Over here, they use smaller baskets for smaller items. Perhaps, they want to optimize the use of the steamers in the kitchen where they can fit in more baskets if they use smaller ones.

The above was also recommended by the server. It is Glutinous Rice Wrap. We were told that the rice is imported from Japan. Gingeri uses fresh bamboo leave instead of the dried ones as you can see the vibrant green of the bamboo leaves.

There were quite a bit of minced meat and salted egg yolk in the filing.  This one costs $4.95.

For dessert, we had Steamed Yam Cake with Red Bean Paste Filing for $3.75. The Yam Cake is coated with an orangey  soy powder, popular in Japan. It is not very sweet. The yam cake resembles glutinous rice cake which is sticky and chewy.

The total bill came to $30 including taxes and tips. It was great meeting with Michelle. I wish her all the best and hope she will be back to Vancouver some day and we can catch up at dim sum restaurants again which is her favourite places to eat.