Dinner

Dolar Shop Richmond Hot Pot

Dolar shop has a very steep price point of $50-$60 per person. Their ingredients lived up to the name of Dolar, and their services are superb. The interior decor make you feel like a princess. Everything is awesome except the price. For people who does not have to worry about money, Dolar Shop is definitely the go-to place for personal hot pot. As for me, I would only come here to treat my parents or an important client. Awesome restaurant, but not recommended for monthly visit.

Hanoi Old Quarter Restaurant

This is a cold dish that is very refreshing to eat during Summer. The presentation is awesome. The use of straw plate and banana leaf transformed this dish to something more exotic. When the waitress brought this dish to us, I could still see the vermicelli bouncing left and right. The key to this dish is the freshness of its ingredients. Aside from the Grilled pork belly and the pork patties. All the herbs are very crispy. The different flavours of the herbs are very subtle. We have cucumber, mint, lettuce, celery, basil, and bean sprout on the side. Perhaps 1 to 2 more herbs I cannot name. They will come out and surprise you with their unique fragrance when you are not paying too much attention to them. The grilled pork belly and pork patties are soaked in fish sauce with fermented veggie. The soup is sweet and sour with a little kick of spicy. They taste really good. However, I find the thinly sliced bacon-style pork belly a little tough to the bite. Similarly to the pork patties a little tough on the outside. The pork pattie’s interior is quite tender.

Kirin Seafood Restaurant, Dim Sum on Cambie

Kirin Seafood Restaurant is one of the oldest high-quality Cantonese Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver. They have been around for a least 20 years. During this time, Kirin continued to adopt new recipe and never downgrades their food quality for a higher profit margin. That is respectable. This Kirin Seafood Restaurant is located on Cambie and West 12th Avenue in Vancouver, on the 3rd floor of City Square.

Happy Tree House BBQ Skewers

It is quite ironic to name the restaurant “Happy Tree”. I’d be pretty pissed if I were the trees. Happy Tree House BBQ make very good lamb skewers. Unfortunately, everything else is pure trash. The interior of the space is very noisy, you cannot hear what your friends are saying. The service is not very good, all the staff wants to do is get you to finish so they can serve the next round of customers. Even with these issues, I still see a lot of customers lining up. I cannot justify the $46 per person price point. Not recommended due to high price, bad food, bad atmosphere, and bad service.

Li’s China Grill, BBQ Skewers

Li’s China Grill is not as good as before. The decrease in food quality is very apparent. The price is still pretty high though. Our bill comes to $30 per person and we did not order a lot of food. Taste-wise, this is still an okay BBQ skewer place. Having Happy Tree House BBQ and Kuan Zhai Road Restaurant in close proximity, Li’s China Grill has an uphill battle ahead of them. Not recommended, there must be better BBQ skewers place somewhere else.

Ba Le Deli and Bakery, Bahn Mi

Ba Le’s #5 special sandwich is my favorite sandwich. I guess the memory goes back to the first time I’ve had it. When it took me by surprise of what a sandwich can be. I’ll tell you, “Subway” is nothing compared to this. #5 Special Sandwich is pretty much the same as the #3 Cold Cut Sandwich. Except #5 Special have a lot more meat. You can find Vietnamese sausage, Ham, Pate, Home made mayonnaise, Pickled daikon radish and carrots, Cilantro and Cucumber. The sandwich is cut in the middle for easier consumption. It is not completely cut. Which gave me a satisfying feeling when taking them apart. The exterior of the bread is hard, feels solid. I could hear the bread crumble when pulling on them.

ColorSeeSee Shanghainese Cuisine, Authentic Xiao Long Bao

How do we know these Xiao Long Bao are authentic. Here are some key points:
Xiao Long Bao was brought to you with a lid, to reduce heat loss.
Lid was removed and Xiao Long Bao was presented to Patrons. We see Xiao Long Bao in the foggy steam and go “There’s my food”.
Then you see the Xiao Long Bao stood up strong and tall. Pleasant to look at, with out being floppy at the bottom.
The location and spacing of Xiao Long Bao is also important. They should be uniformly scattered, not touching each other or the steamer.
An authentic Xiao Long Bao should have exactly 18 folds at its crown.

Big Tree Food Palace Chinese Skewers

Big Tree Food Palace is not a very good restaurant. Our bill comes to $130 for 4 people with 15% tips. A bill of $150 for 4 equals to $37 per person. I don’t care if their rent is high. Their food quality is not worth $37 per head. The ingredients are sub-par. The majority of the food is slightly overcooked. I’m not sure if it’s bad to a point of “must-try”, but I think customers know when they eat something over-priced. The bad food quality of this restaurant would be acceptable if it’s $18 per person. Not recommended.

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