604 Food Critic

Din Tai Fung Xiao Long Bao

August 2, 2019

It is Din Tai Fung culture to serve pot stickers upside down to showcase the crispy bottom crust. The extravagant thin crisp crust hide the pot stickers underneath. When you eat them, you estimate where pot stickers are and break the crust accordingly. It provides excitement to eating an ordinary dish. Unfortunately for the Din Tai Fung in Seattle, I broke the bottom crust and knew this is not the right stuff. The crust should have been light, fluffy and crispy. This crust was soggy. I could not break it off easily because the top layer of the bottom crust was still wet. This is not cooked properly. The Shrimp and Kurotuba Pork Pot Stickers pot stickers should be soft and juicy to the bite. The real Din Tai Fung’s potstickers should have a bounce and give me a satisfying feeling when biting into them. However, the texture of the pot stickers can only be best described as “wimpy”. I don’t care if it’s Kurotuba Pork or whatever the pork they use. I cannot taste the difference. If you want to use prestige ingredients, customers should be able to differentiate it in the taste. Also something of note, shrimp does not have much texture.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream

August 1, 2019

This store location features lower storefront windows for kids to peek through from outside. I don’t think they had to do that because every time I walk by, the smell of freshly made waffle cones naturally drew me in. It is really admirable that Molly Moon’s is tip free. They are assuming the responsibility for their customers. Even it’s just a couple of dollars, the gesture my day that much better. Not having to punch in tip percentage also made my transaction a lot more smooth while holding multiple ice creams.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Bing and Noodle World

July 31, 2019

Look at this picture and tell me how thick you think the soup is. Bing and Noodle World’s signature hulu noodle looks like vomit in a bowl. There is a lot of starch added to the soup. All the toppings are chopped to the point that I cannot recognize what they are. The noodles are overcooked, kind of matching the texture of the soup. I honestly cannot tell if I am eating the soup or the noodle. The thick soup does a good job at retaining heat. This bowl of noodle burned my mouth multiple times. Perhaps it’s a good bowl of noodle during Winter, but I did not enjoy it during my visit.
Bing and Noodle World specialize in stuffed pancake, which is the first word of their name “Bing”. You would think they should be very confident in their stuffed pancake to call themselves as such.
To be complete honest, the stuffed pancake is not bad. They have thin and sturdy crust. The filling thickness are easily 3-5 times thicker than the crust. Perhaps it’s the filling I ordered, there is a strong moldy smell to my stuffed pancake. I don’t know what to make of it, but I won’t be ordering this dish again. You are welcome to go and try the moldy pancake.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

OEB Breakfast Co. Yaletown

July 30, 2019

Even before I saw my food, I could smell the fragrance of truffle oil. The Gold Digga is poutines made with duck fat fried herb potatoes and Saint Cyrille cheese curd. It is served with Berkshire roast pork and topped with two poached eggs. On top, we have black truffles and brown butter hollandaise. The bowl looks very colorful. There are some greens and eatable flowers as garnishing. Yellow hollandaise and red seasonings with orange pork and brown wedge fries just makes me want to dig in. The hand-cut wedge fries are perfectly fried. The exterior is very crunchy before it gets soaked by the yolk. The interior can get a little dry though. It is quite poetic how this is named Gold Digga. When my yolk runs down the routine, I’m literally digging for it. It’s probably just a coincident, but I find it utterly enjoyable.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Dolar Shop Richmond Hot Pot

July 29, 2019

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.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Hanoi Old Quarter Restaurant

July 28, 2019

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.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Dole Pineapple Pop, Healthy Popsicle

July 27, 2019

For $8 per 8 in one package, this is $1 a pop (definitely pun intended). 100% pineapple juice make this a healthy snack for all ages. Next time I find these, I’m definitely going to stock up. I assume a lot of people will have the same thinking as me.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Kirin Restaurant Steamed Prawn and Sakura Farm Premium Pork Dumpling (Shu Mai)

Kirin Seafood Restaurant, Dim Sum on Cambie

July 26, 2019

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.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Happy Tree House BBQ Skewers

July 25, 2019

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.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

604 Food Critic

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