Munchie Adventure: Kalvin's Szechuen Restaurant Ltd. 松林居, Vancouver

This is a what someone might call a "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant location, because it was pretty hard to spot and pretty easy to miss as we drive by it xD All worth the confusion though. So glad my mom made reservations because, this restaurant really only has like...10 tables (about 2x 10-person table, 2x 6/8-person table, 4x 4/6-person table, and 2x 2-person table) I was surprised though, this place seems to be pretty well-known, so I expected something a bit bigger :) There were a lot of people who came in and were told to try again another day =/

REMEMBER TO MAKE RESERVATIONS IF YOU DECIDE TO VISIT!! (just to be safe ;D) Amazing food, but the downside is it's CASH ONLY ><"

Restaurant:  Kalvin's Restaurant Ltd.
Location: 5225 Victoria Drive (at 36th Ave.), Vancouver
Cuisine: Szechuen, Taiwanese, Northern Chinese Delicacies
Price range: $10-30
Date of visit: April 5, 2012
**note that they're closed on Wednesdays :)**

Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.25/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

First dish we ordered was the garlic fatty pork (appetizer). It was made differently from other places I've tried, since their sauce was rather thick. Taste was ok, a bit on the salty side, but the pork slices were definitely too thick.

Next was the Spicy Pork blood and intestines with leeks. You had a choice of spiciness level, and we got the least spicy, which turned out to be pretty darned spicy =P Well-balanced taste, really cool pot thing, with a piece of those fancy rocks which burn and keep the food hot for longer ^^

Deep fried pork chop with noodles, simple and good. The pork chop had a bit too much fat, but nonetheless delicious :) very crispy~~ The noodles were chewy and well cooked. Soup stock was meh, nothing special.

Deep fried bun, just a side for all the dishes with soup, good texture and nicely fried (aside from this one little kinda burnt part haha).

Next up: Wontons in soup!! These were amazing, chewy skin, and the pork inside had good texture. Overall liked this very much, so I bought some frozen ones to make at home (they didn't turn out as nice lol). Still not as amazing as the ones my mom had when she was a kid (or so she claims) hehe.

Can't forget the Shanghai dumplings :) These were so juicy and full of goodness!! Must eat fresh, or you can buy their frozen ones to steam at home, they were pretty good. Although I'm pretty sure it's rather fattening hahaha Good food >>> fat :)

Last to arrive was the stir fried Shanghai rice cakes with preserved veggies and pork. Well made, since it was nice and chewy and not too salty. Might've been asking for too much if I wanted less oil in it xD

Anyhow, that sums up a rather enjoyable meal. Will revisit if I head all the way out to Vancouver again, but REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER to reserve!! :)