Now I know why.
Last year, we had lunch at this place called Zephyr in the Sky in Richmond. We were sort of confused because the sign of the restaurant says it is Zephyr in the Sky and most of everything in the restaurant says it is called Delicious Cuisine. We thought that the words Delicious Cuisine are just a tag line for the Zephyr in the Sky restaurant until the waitress explained that they were in the midst of changing their image and undergoing a makeover.
Well, the makeover today is complete and what a bang it is making — by bagging not one but two awards from the Chinese Restaurant Awards.
It is now two separate restaurants standing side-by-side. One retained the Zephyr in the Sky name and the other more upscale but smaller one called Delicious Cuisine.
What does the “One-something-something-something” Chinese name translate into? Anyone?
It had been one year since our last visit. I was surprised with how popular this place is. It was extremely busy and we can see that they obviously could do with more staff. I could see the stressed look from every waitress tearing from table to table.
Suanne and I had to wait for a table even though we were quite early shortly before 6PM. While waiting, we saw the a board at the entrance of their lunch special. For lunch special, $10 is pricey compared to the many $7-$8 lunch specials around town. But this lunch special is a little bit more upscale — a three course lunch special consisting of an appetizer, a main and a dim sum. The picture above is clickable if you want to see a larger version of it.
I don’t know what makes me say this but it seems to me like Delicious Cuisine is a Taiwanese style restaurant. Don’t ask me why … am just saying.
Suanne and I felt like second class citizens here. We can’t read the specials on the board. Grrrr. There is no way we could get the waitress with the patience to read/translate each item for us seeing how busy they were. Moreover we were seated so far away form the board too. If only they have English translations for the specials on the board.
While waiting patiently for service, we were scanning our neighbors tables. A number of them had clams and most of them good looking dishes too.
So we stuck with the two award winning dishes and decided to ask about the clams.
Tada … here it is … Icy Crystal Egg. This dish won silver in the Appetizer category.
In our visits to these restaurants looking for the winning dishes, we found out that the English names as described on the website is different from what the restaurant calls it. While the Chinese Restaurant Award folks calls this the Icy Crystal Eggs, the Delicious Cuisine restaurant uses another name for this dish. The restaurant calls this the … Sweet Crystal Egg. I think it is because the CRA folks directly translated the name on their own from the Chinese name of the dish.
This appetizer costs $5 and has six half-eggs.
The eggs reminded me a lot of the eggs with the ramen in G-Men. The egg yoke is done just right … not runny, not fully solidified and still moist.
Except that this is served cold. And it is sweet too. We were wondering where the sweetness came from.
I think the reason why this is so special is that this egg presents something you don’t expect typically from an egg — the sweetness, the temperature and the texture of the yolk.
We love this. Even Suanne who does not eat eggs enjoyed this.
This silver award winning dish is $10 and it is NOT on the menu. The waitress said that it is a special item and is described on the board.
What we love is that they use thinner, more leafy cabbage. This gives it a very complimentary texture to the tender beef.
As you can probably guess by looking at it, it is sweet, sour and a little spicy. Despite the kimchi reference to its name, it is quite unlike Korean kimchi.
This is a very “hoi-wai” (translated as appetizing?) kind of dish. And it is good with steamed rice.
When we asked for a recommendation for clam, our waitress recommended that we try their Winter Melon with Clam soup.
A small bowl is $5.50. It tasted gingery. We like the balance of the warmth from the ginger and cold from the winter melon.
We were quite impressed with Delicious Cuisine. It is certainly a restaurant that we would come back again some day (on a less busy time!!) so that we can properly check out what they have on the menu.
Here is their takeout menu. Click to enlarge if you want to read it.
Business Hour
Lunch: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm
Dinner: 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm
Closed on Tuesday
It’s definitely Taiwanese. The sign promises Jīng (Beijing), Chuān (Sichuan), and Tái (Taiwan) cài 京川台菜, but it’s definitely Taiwanese– you could say it’s Taiwanese-style Beijing/Sichuan, right? With a couple extra purely Taiwanese things thrown in. I think it’s one of the few Taiwanese places in town, if you don’t count beef noodle or snacky joints.
I’ve been looking for a replacement Taiwanese restaurant ever since Vogue closed. Do you find the food comparable/better than Vogue? We’ve been to Delicious Cuisine once or twice in the past year, but none of the dishes we ordered stood out. Maybe we didn’t order their special dishes.
Hi JS:
I can’t really say since when I was in Vogue ( see http://bit.ly/dhNffu ), we only have very normal dishes. The dishes in Vogue was OK but does not seems to display the creativity that we see in Delicious Cuisine. When I was in Zephyr/Delicious Cuisine a year ago, the food we had we very well executed ( see pix here http://bit.ly/14BwoH ). Can you remember what you had in Delicious Cuisine?
Ben
I must clarify it’s the Vogue 2 to 3 years after they opened that is the good Vogue. LOL After a while, the food went downhill and we never go anymore. IIRC, we had the Hakka Stirfry (the one with the pork and dried squid with lots of green onions), 3-cup chicken. . .and I don’t remember. (Must be getting old.) I think we also had one of their soups, the pork rib with bittermelon soup. I should go back and try that kimchi beef. I’d like to get that Spicy Pork Organ stew but nobody eats that but me: it’s my same-old, same-old problem.
It is Taiwanese. Suppose maybe Taiwanese version of Sichuan food ala Kalvin. Some Taiwanese consider it one of the best Taiwanese food in town. I thought the kimchi beef was a tad too sweet for my liking. Tasted nothing like the kimchi you normally find. I agree that nothing stood out. IMHO, Taiwanese food is best known for the street food. Most of their cuisine is ‘borrowed’ from the Mainland and Japan.
you are right about the other menu specials being in Chinese. too bad. best if you can find a friend that reads chinese. the service was ok and ymmv. though i cant see them translating chinese to english regularly. overall i consider it a solid restaurant overall.
i liked vogue the few times i was there. though not everyone agreed, as many didn’t fancy it as much. i also like Kalvin(Taiwan/Sezchuan), they have a few really good dishes there. though i haven’t been in over a year.
hmmm… organ meat!!
Keev: which did you mean, Kalvin or Delicious Cuisine? Considered the best Taiwanese restaurant in town? I haven’t been to Kalvin’s in a long, long, long time — maybe we should gather a group and go there one of these days, so finally I get to have my Spicy Pork Organ Stew. Mini-down? It’s hard to get a table there though: it is a busy restaurant.
BTW, Cabin 5555 (on West Boulevard) is owned by Kalvin (same Chinese name as the restaurant on Victoria). When they first opened, I think I saw Kalvin himself working the kitchen. Don’t know the ownership status now, but I’m thinking it’s still the same.
I’m in for a Kalvin mini-down (depending on the time – later in the evening usually works most days). I really like Kalvin, but I haven’t been in a couple of years.
haven’t been to Kalvin in a while too. love to go back. mini down sounds fun.
i think Delicious is the new kid on the block and rated highly as such. there really isn’t too good Taiwanese resto’s to choose from.
i cant think of any Taiwanese meal or items that have ‘wowed’ me. perhaps i am not trying hard enough. The food at Delicious is like a solid Taiwanese home cooked meal. not bad at all. once they messed up on my take-out order. and ended giving me a free BBT with pearls for their error.
dunno about cabin 5555. was there a couple of years ago. late night(10pm), it wasn’t good at all. but i can see that maybe it was a one-off bad late nite. it was bad enough that i haven’t been back since.
Cabin 5555 is inconsistent. It was good for the first couple of years; now, it’s okay but it seems that there are more off nights than not. There are some items they do well and usually those are the items we order. TS’s favourite is what we call #61 Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce on Rice — it was #61 on their first menu — this is what inspired our own post (http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com/2010/03/white-pork-with-garlic-sauce-two-ways.html). Their beef noodles, salty-peppery chicken are usually serviceable. They also have a bamboo shoots with pork dish and a fish with yellow chive dish that’s above average. Seems like those dishes don’t suffer from their off nights.
That is a great pictorial recipe _js_. My mouth watered instantly when that webpage loaded.
the kimchi beef reminds me of the stinky tofu cabbage. i think the food here is great. i also think it’s better than vogue.
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