Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

First off, sorry about lack of posts, just had surgery, so I'm prohibited from a lot of food lately *uber sadface* But! I'm still alive, that's all that matter =) I live to eat another day~~

Anyhow, I know I've done a lot of reviews for this, but I just wanted to say, I went for dinner recently, and was quite disappointed in them. Dim sum is still great, but dinner . . . NOPE. They kept pushing us to order a lamb hot pot which we politely told them we didn't want multiple times, they just kept pushin' ><" Food wasn't that great either, gone downhill since my last visit *sadface* Buttt this is about dim sum =)

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $5-10 per person




Date of visit: December 6, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

I actually came here right after my surgery, first meal! =) So it really wasn't that big of a deal, or the painkillers were still working, and I felt fine =P Here's the first to arrive, Wah Lun Special Baked Buns. Very fresh, they were so hot and delicious =) Made me happy. (there's three per order, but I couldn't get a pic fast enough =P)

Then came the Sticky Rice Wrap. There were three LARGE wraps! =O Great deal right there =P The rice was a bit over steamed, but overall quite tasty.

Next! Pan Fried Shanghai Rice Cake, this is one of my favorites, its so chewy and seasoned well. The meat goes well, and the veggies make the oil less overwhelming. Still a bit oily for my liking though.

Ah, another one of my favorites (even as a kid), Steamed Chicken Wraps. Can't find the "traditional" kind, but this one comes closest. Normally, it should have chicken, ham, Chinese mushroom, and fish maw wrapped in beancurd. Most places only have the chicken plus random other stuff, this place has everything but replaced the fish maw with this vermicelli thing =) Not bad. I love the hammm =D

I tried to order things that seemed more appropriate for post-surgery (although eating out is already a big no-no xD), so I got a Steamed Pork Dumpling (Siu Mai). They were quite large, but sadly for me, I had extra work to do, since I forgot there was shrimp in there ><" (mommy says no shrimp or else I'll get a big ugly scar) Not that the shrimp was bad, it's usually so good, but I can't eat it-- for now =(

Last item! We forgot that we ordered it and kinda went overboard with the carbs, but oh well =P Abalone Sticky Rice Wrap. Such a Chinese tradition =)

Lots of green bean, which everyone loves (except me, because I'm just that oddball).

There was ONE abalone in there, so they technically didn't lie. Not worth the $5.95 they charge, but it was made nicely.

Won't be back for dinner until they can stop "hard-selling" menu items, but dim sum is still great =)

Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

So it's my mom's birthday! We take her out for an early birthday dinner with my aunt and uncle. We decide to come to Wah Lun, since it's been doing pretty good lately =)

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $10-15 per person




Date of visit: September 15, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4.5/5

Let's stick in a random picture of the cake I made! =D

Anyways, back to the restaurant. We ordered a four dish combo ($55.95) which comes with your choice of free 1/2 duck or chicken, and we chose the marinated duck. It came really quickly, since we asked them to make sure we got some duck (they run out pretty quick). A bit salty, but good with rice.

Their soup comes in a special jar (not really a jar, but not a pot either, you'll see when you get it haha), but I don't know what was in the soup this time. It's usually good soup, ingredients are plentiful for a good soup broth.

Their Cod in Creamy Corn Sauce is really good if it's fresh. I love the crunchy batter and the soft fish inside, smothered with sauce. Amazing stuff.

This was a new thing, Three Seafood with Greens, we haven't tried it before, and it wasn't bad. A bit oily, but at least we got some greens in our meal =P There was shrimp, fish, and squid (which is the norm).

Pork toro and black fungus with lotus root was yummy. I love pork toro, it's got such a good mouth feel to it. Maybe it's cuz it's fatty too. This wasn't too fatty, it was just perfect for me to not feel too guilty about eating more than 3 pieces =P I didn't like how the black fungus was broken into too-small pieces, almost like they crumbled apart. So hard to get!

Last (before the lobster) was the Bean curd with two kinds of mushroom. We usually get this, cuz it's our veggie dish and hard to make at home. I thought they didn't have enough sauce though, so the bean curd wasn't as soft as I like it (other people like it crunchy, so they thought it was good).

Lobster is $13.80/lb, and we got a 2.8 lb lobster ($38.64) in cream sauce (cuz it works so well with lobster and is so so delicious) plus E-Fu noodles ($6.00). It wasn't bad, so much sauce! Noodles were cooked nicely, but kinda broken apart (weren't long noodles). Dunno if I'll order lobster again though...

Overall experience was good, besides the waitress trying to get us to eat a 4lb lobster =P Reasonable price for the extra noodles, so it was a good ight =) Dinner ended up to be $126.00 plus tips =)

Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

After many times of visiting here for dim sum, we decided to give their dinner menu a try. Actually, my parents came here with my aunt and were very happy with their experience, so we came as a family to have dinner again. And I was surprised they had improved their dinner so much. The food was actually pretty good, and the free dish (marinated duck) which came with our meal was decently sized!

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家 (visit their site here)
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $10-15 per person





Date of visit: August 24, 2012
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4.5/5

We ordered the four dish dinner combo ($49.95), which comes with free rice (1 bucket), soup, dessert, and either House Special Steamed Chicken or Marinated Duck. For the free dish, we decided to get the Marinated Duck, since we usually have chicken. It was not disappointing! =)

The first dish we got was the Sauteed Spicy Sea Whelks (which came with string beans as well). It was decent. A bit spicy for me, but the sea whelks were a good size, not too big, not too small. Medium is best actually, so you get some meat and not have it too hard to chew.

Then there was Sweet and Sour Boneless Pork, but somehow my photo file got corrupted, so no pic for it =( It was fresh and juicy, and the pork wasn't fat. Only good when its fresh though, and sadly we didn't finish it, so we had not-so-good pork the next day xD

Here's the fish dish (oh it rhymed!): Deep Fried Cod in Creamy Corn Sauce. It's so yummy! Crispy outside, tender fish inside smothered with creamy corn sauce-- so good with rice! =)

Last dish was Sauteed Bean Curd with Two Kinds of Mushroom. It's really crispy bean curd with a glaze sauce and mushrooms. I like my bean curd soft, so I have to soak it in the sauce for a while before I eat it. Like the taste though!

Mmm!! Sweet soup =) This was black sticky rice with red bean and tapioca (my guess), and it was good! Not sickly sweet, but good sweet!

Liked the experience, will revisit! ^^

Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

My family really likes to go to dim sum, and this isn't too far away from home, so we come here often. It's pretty good actually, we used to think it was expensive, but since they haven't changed their prices (while other places have increased) and portion sizes stayed the same, we remain loyal customers! =P

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant (visit their website here)
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum
Price range: $5-15




Date of visit: July 19, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3.75/5
Food variety: 3.75/5
Food quality: 4/5

Buck worthy? 4.5/5

We ordered the Beef Brisket and Rice Flour Roll Hot Pot ($5.95), and it comes bubbling =) So we know when it's fresh! It's really good, the rice flour rolls are nice and chewy and the beef brisket isn't fat (sometimes it is, but we got lucky this time).

Then there was the Pan Fried Shanghai Rice Cake ($5.50). It was nice and chewy, but oily. I like the taste, and the proportion of veggies to meat to rice cake was good =)

Shrimp with pea tips dumpling ($3.75) was a new item on the menu, so we wanted to try it. I thought the skin was a bit soggy, but it was pretty. Shrimp was good, would've liked more pea tips.

My aunt really likes the Crispy Bean Curd Wrap with Shrimp and pea tips ($3.75). It's oily since it's deep fried, but so good with the sweet sour sauce they give us (we think there's not enough every time).

I've actually never tried their Sticky Rice Wrap in Bamboo Leaf ($3.75) before, so this was a first. I was surprised there were three (instead of the normal 2)!! They were decent. Sticky rice was a bit overcooked, inside was good though, pork was lean.

These buns, Wah Lun Special Baked BBQ Pork Buns ($3.45) are amazing. The bun is soft, the filling is juicy and hot. The outside is a bit sugary and crispy. AMAZING. (only if they're fresh though =P)

These Shark Fin dumplings ($3.45) aren't really made of shark fin, don't worry! Made with imitation shark fin, shrimp, and pork, it's a pretty good deal, since the portion is big, and it's not expensive =) Yummy too! BONUS!

I really like their dim sum, but sometimes it gets so busy that getting a spot (parking and eating) is almost impossible. They also charge for tea, sometimes its waived, but it's really random.