Grand River: Improved dim sum!

Honestly, for a while I refused to come here for dim sum since the quality was so poor. All the food was too oily and overfried that it was almost disgusting to ingest. However, my mom convinced me otherwise, so here I am!

Restaurant: Grand River Seafood Restaurant (visit their website here)

Location: #112- 100 Schoolhouse Street, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum, Seafood
Price range: $10-15 per person



Date of visit: October 28, 2016
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

One of the staples that I like to order is Steamed Pork Dumpling ($4.50). These were actually decent, not too much lard, nice size, and had some shrimp and mushroom in it. Good texture.

Steamed Bean Curd Wrap in Oyster Sauce ($4.50) is Sunflower's favorites, they pack lots of pork inside the beancurd, which is steamed to be soft and moist.

My granny's must-have: Steamed Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce ($4.95). They used to only have 4 per dish (sometimes they still only have 4 if they're big), but there were five today, which feels like a better deal. All the flavors of the sauce are soaked into the feet and the skin falls right off the bone.

Deep Fried Squid ($6.95) is not the same as Deep Fried Squid with Spicy Salt, so be careful! We enjoy the squid tentacles over the body of the squid, and these are so tasty! Crispy and fresh all the time, not overly salty either!

Steamed Spareribs on Rice ($2.99 if you order 3 dim sum) is something my uncle ALWAYS orders. Though I prefer plain steamed spareribs, how can you argue with a dish that's under $3? It's basically steamed rice with pork spareribs on top, with a side of sweet soy sauce. Hits the spot and the carb go-to.

Steamed Meat Dumpling ($4.50) is sometimes ordered at our table, I felt the skin was nicely made-- a bit thick but chewy, soft, and moist. There were SO MANY PEANUTS inside, I didn't like it that much, but Sunflower did! The meat rissoles inside were tasty and just the way I remember them as a child though!

Can't ever have a day without fish for OldBean, so a Halibut with Supreme Soy Sauce and Scallions ($7.95) was in order. The halibut was overcooked and a bit dry, flavors were good though.

Another fishy favorite is their (boneless) Yellow Croaker with Supreme Soy Sauce and Scallions ($8.95). There's only about 9 pieces of fish, but oh so melt-in-your-mouth good. Crispy on the outside the fish is moist and flakey inside.

Deep Fried Milk (special item, forgot the price) was a special monthly item, and quite disappointing. The outside was crispy but hard and the "milk" inside was solid and overcooked.

Fried Prawn Dumpling ($5.50) is packed with shrimp and garlic wrapped together in a golden layer of crispy wonton skin. Juicy inside and crunchy outside-- yum!

Steamed Tripe with Ginger and Green Onions ($4.95) is becoming rare in the dim sum scene nowadays because of the inflating price and complexity of preparation. However they do a good job here, no extra cornstarch coating on them, just plain steamed and delicious.

Mayo Pork Chops (special item, forgot the price) was definitely the wrong choice we made that day. The mayo was overwhelmingly sickening paired with the deep fried pork chop-- it was all too much. My piece had a lot of fat in it as well, which was disappointing.

Deep Fried Sweetened Glutinous Rice Ball ($4.50) took a good 35 minutes before it showed up at our table, since they make it fresh-- so remember to order it early! I'm glad they do this though, since it was super crispy, with the glutinous rice being soft and chewy. I didn't like the seasme paste filling though, it was not smooth and had lots of grit to it.

Finishing off with more dessert, Tapioca Cake with Red Bean Paste and Custard Paste ($4.50) was a beautiful presentation. Usually its harder to use small tapioca balls, but they did it!

It doesn't stick onto our hands and the tapioca balls are all cooked perfectly so that they are nice and chewy.

Service has much improved and their food has definitely turned for the better. I hope they keep it up and continue offering various different dishes each month!

Ruby Chinese: Bittersweet Farewells

Another restaurant closing gathering, all quite bittersweet. Basically, I grew up with Ruby and the staff there since everyone was like family there. This post is basically the farewell party on their last day!

They officially closed after lunch, I saw some people there for dim sum still, but she had portioned off three tables for guests to sit at. It was so warming as strangers shared a table and recalled all our good memories at the restaurant. They were familiar faces since we see each other so often during dim sum. First they served a Potato Salad! It was gigantic for 8 people! Crispy melon mixed with soft potato and loaded with shrimp, so amazing!

Food continued to appear on our table, there was soup with fish maw, super yummy!

Favorite is their Singaporean fried rice noodles, just as I remember them =)

They called this "Owner fried rice special" because it was personally made by the owner herself! Loaded with ingredients, this tasted delicious.

One of our all time favorites must be their pan fried string beans, mildly spicy with meat bits and the beans crunchy and flavorful-- I'm definitely going to miss this!

Then poured in many many dim sum plates freshly steamed! Various buns stacked atop each other, some sweet, some savory.

There was also har gow (shrimp dumpling), which is kinda crazy because in all my years here we've never actually ordered it! First--and last =(

Pork hock was one of my grandma's favorites, since they're so tender and the flavors are all soaked up into the pork hocks.

I've always admired them for having clean oil to fry their foods (they change it weekly and sometimes more frequently if the "color" of the oil changes), as compared to most Chinese places that just use their oil until unfryable. These tomato sauce shrimp were lightly fried and had just enough sauce to coat the outsides. These were quite large as well, and crunchy in my mouth!

We all held the plate of deep fried squid since we were running out of room on our table! So heavenly.

Look at how much food we still had! This was about the time when three people from our table had to leave-- leaving six of us staring at all the food.

There was bonus beef omasum-- Elephant's favorite! (Too bad he wasn't here for it)

Here's the owner still working hard, going around to make sure everyone was comfortable and well fed.

There was so much food left over and we couldn't bear to waste it, so packing it for later!

Lastly, a picture with the owner (and famjam)! Thank you for the many years of great memories, food, and chatter! We will definitely miss you, and hope you see each other around town ^-^

Dragon Group: Amazing tea, sub-par dim sum

Family was in Richmond visiting the temple, so we thought to have lunch in the area before leaving! Saw this new place have their "Grand Opening" sign up, so we decided to give it a try, it used to be the location of South Ocean.

Restaurant: Dragon Group Seafood Restaurant

Location: 150-4751 Garden City Road, Richmond
Cuisine: Chinese, Seafood, Dim Sum
Price range: $15-$25/person



Date of visit: October 10, 2016
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 2/5
Buck worthy? 1/5

There wasn't a long wait in line for tables although it looked crowded, we were seated after about 15 minutes of waiting. The inside is quite nicely furnished now, but still the same small space. There is a $1/person charge, and the tea quality justifies this surcharge, it was very nice tea-- fragrant and light.

I was looking through the menu while we waited, so we could place the order right as we sat down (hungry peeps). First to arrive was the Halibut with Scallions and Ginger in Premium Soy Sauce ($8.25). The halibut was cooked perfectly, juicy and flakey inside with a crispy exterior that was evenly coated with the soy sauce. Not overly seasoned, I quite enjoyed the piping hot fish. Wish there were more pieces considering the price we paid.

My mom really loves Rice Roll Wrapped with Donut ($5.25), but this was an utter disappointment. The rice roll itself was mediocre, chewy but not quite "smooth". The Chinese donut was hard as a rock and over-fried. Normally it should be crispy on the outside with a bread-like interior. At least they put the soy sauce on the side.

When I first went for dim sum in Hong Kong, one thing I really enjoyed were their "combo" dishes-- basically dishes with more than one item in it, so you could have dim sum alone AND still have variety. I saw the Beef Ball, Spare rib, Chicken Feet combo ($4.75) and was sold immediately. Sadly, this wasn't quite up to standard. The chicken foot was nice, and the beef ball was a good size and average texture/taste. The spareribs were actually seasoned nicely but more than half of it was tiny bits of meat with chunks of fat. There was ONE piece with bone in it (I like the ones with bone). So basically this was one super oily dish.

Annnnd for my Elephant, Deep Fried Sesame Ball with Seasame paste ($4.75). This wasn't freshly made to order, but was still relatively warm. Crispy outside but the dough inside wasn't chewy enough. The sesame paste was too gritty and sweet that it didn't flow nicely.

Being a lover of anything Tom Yum, I ordered Beef Omasum in Tom Yum Sauce ($5.50). It was like any other omasum dish, but I like their concept of putting in Tom Yum. I'd say it's a rather personal taste, since I enjoyed this dish, but my mom said it was weird.

Didn't settle for regular shrimp dumplings, so we got Meat Rissoles with Crab ($5.75). Fancy sounding enough (it has this even fancier sounding name in Chinese). Probably the most disappointing dish of the whole meal, possibly my whole dim sum eating life. The wrapping was soft and soggy, fell apart when touched, not chewy at all. The filling did indeed contain real crab, but it also did not hold and so... the dish just all fell apart before it reached any bowl. Similar to any good sushi, your dumpling is not meant to break apart before it reaches your bowl, the wrapping should be strong enough to hold it, yet still be soft, smooth, and chewy.

Another combo dish, Steamed Tri-Buns ($4.75) should contain a custard bun, a BBQ pork bun, and a chicken bun. I say "should" because I got double of the BBQ pork bun *sadface* I asked a waiter to confirm I wasn't being stupid and not able to differentiate the two remaining buns (custard is round and easily distinguishable from the other two). These were good, the custard bun had flowy filling, as advertised and tasted pretty legit. The buns themselves were good texture and taste. I just wish I had a taste of that chicken bun now.

Something with a fusion twist to it, since I don't think truffle is commonly in Chinese dishes, the Pork Shiu-Mai with Truffle ($5.50) arrived. These looked normal, with some truffle sauce on top. I did not like the taste of the truffle, it was slimey and tasted like concentrated Chinese mushrooms. The shiu mai itself was made with ground pork and had good bite to it. Average size.

Lamb isn't commonly in dim sum, and I'm a sucker for lamb so...Pan Fried Lamb Pastry with Leeks ($6.25) was ordered. These buns were not worthy of the price we paid. Pan fried to a golden exterior with the bun being soft and moist, and the filling being all lamb, I liked the flavors. However, there were only three small buns. THREE.

Still hungry, we ordered a Wonton Noodle Soup ($7.80/bowl) expecting the usual wontons, but were surprised when they showed up more like pork and chive dumplings with no shrimp. The meat wasn't very fresh inside the dumplings, the wrapping was chewy and smooth though. Noodles weren't anything special, but I like the added touch of greens.

I saw the Pan Fried Tofu with Shrimp Paste ($5.25) come out of the kitchen a few times and they were huge! Must order. The tofu was a big chunk with shrimp paste on top. Nicely fried, it was crispy and I like how they placed the sauce on the side. Shrimp paste met the average standards.

Normally we don't eat a lot, but boy was I surprised when I saw our bill was $124.74!! Then I looked to see that they had charged us 55 people's worth of tea-- no wonder! Luckily I caught it, and they changed it.

But still, paying more than $10/person for dim sum is a rarity for my family, so this was a surprise, but hey, being adventurous means you have to suffer the consequences too! =P Overall, good service, high quality tea, hit or mostly miss dim sum.

Legend Seafood: Third to the chain, looking great!

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been away for so long, finally got a job and life became so busy :( But here's a quick (kinda long) post! It's a double whammy, since I came here for dim sum AND dinner!

Restaurant: Legend Seafood Restaurant (visit their website here)

Location: 6102- 2850 Shaughnessy Street, Port Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, dim sum, Shanghai, Hunan
Price range: $10-20 (lunch); $15-25 (dinner)



Date of visit: June 2016
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

Legend Seafood is the third to the Legend restaurants in the Tri-Cities, owned by the same owner. I've been eyeing it since they started renovations for this new store, then saw some negative reviews but finally got the chance to go see for myself! Plus, they have a gold theme, and who doesn't appreciate gold?

First let's hit up the dim sum! We ordered Shanghai Wontons ($5.50) which were the same size as the dinner portions (dinner price is $7.95)! SCORE! Love the wrapping on these, nice and chewy while the meat inside is not full of fillers (feels like real pork in there!).

A great deal is their Pan Fried Rice Noodles with Beef ($6.95). The beef isn't overly processed/seasoned, and the noodles were soft and chewy. A bit on the oily side but nothing out of the norm for this dish. I like the flavors and you get quite a bit of noodle for that price (compared to other current dim sum places).

Of course we get Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce ($4.95) because my grandma loves it! These were fall-off-the-bone tender and the flavors of the sauce were soaked up by the chicken feet.

Steamed Pork Livers Dumplings ($4.95) isn't a common dish found on dim sum menus, so of course I'd order it! These came with three thick slices of liver and the meat in the "shiu mai" were chopped small cubes of pork and mushroom. I didn't see any chunks of lard in my piece, which is surprising, since most places use it as filler.

My aunt really enjoys Pan Fried Pork Buns ($5.50), but I found them kinda mushy. They were fluffy on top and seasoned well, but not as juicy as I'd like. Most of the juices had been soaked into the bun and felt a bit fattier than the other dishes.

We definitely got our fair share of iron this meal when we ordered Pork Liver Rice Rolls ($4.95) as well! Thick cubes of pork liver wrapped inside rice rolls with pea tip sprouts! Chinese parents approved of the portion size of these rice rolls. And it's rare for restaurants to use pea tip sprouts since they're a pricier veggie, so I was pleasantly surprised by this!

That ends the dim sum portion, but with inflation, this place is serving large, good quality dishes for the price. The atmosphere and decor of the restaurant also makes their pricing fair. I'm not sure what previous negative reviews were of, but currently, they're in my good books!

Onto dinner! The first time we came, we got Soy Braised Duck ($8.95). The meat was tender and flavors infused into the meat. The portion was tiny for the price though! We also did not get a lot of meaty pieces :c On the side were preserved carrots and radish, spicy and sour but helped appetite!

I couldn't resist getting Slow Braised Pork Hock ($18.95) and thought it would be easy to eat for my grandma. When it arrived, we were all taken aback, since it was such a large dish! A full hock braised beautifully with meat falling off the bone, the flavors soaked deep into the tender meat then bathed in a delicious rich sauce.

I actually ordered the Shanghai Wok Fried Prawns ($16.95) by accident since I messed up the menu number myself haha! This was too salty to eat on its own, flavors complimented the large prawns well. It looked like a tiny dish, but considering it was all prawns with no veggies to make it look larger, it wasn't bad!

Their service has been steadily improving and it shows in the number of customers that are at the restaurant (it used to be so empty!), so good for them!

Then it was father's day/Dad's birthday/my birthday dinner, so we went all out (or thought we did). Thanks to Adorables for letting me use his camera and also taking some shots himself! Leap Bull Frog ($16.95) was so good last time we also got it the second time! It's usually spicy, but we got it not spicy, which was very fragrant. There were more herbs the first time, though I did enjoy it without. The frog legs are tender, smooth, and meaty. It comes in a rich broth and veggies underneath-- so delicious!

Here's a picture of the first time with my hand next to it to show how big the bowl was!

For appies we got Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce ($8.95). This was a cold dish and the chicken was well cooked. I enjoyed the texture and flavors of the chicken and the portion was decent too.

Another appie was their Shanghai Double Cooked Fish Fillet ($9.95). The dish was very traditionally made and although I felt it was a bit hard, the smokey flavor and texture were true to its roots.

Can't go without my dad's favorite: (fish!) Steamed Cod ($19.95) was suggested to us by the owner. She mentioned that it had just arrived today. There were four pieces of fish, and it wasn't soaked in soy sauce when it arrived. It indeed was super fresh and my dad loved this dish! I noted that this wasn't smothered in oil like other places.

Seems like we never get enough of liver... so...Fried Pork Liver Slices ($15.95) was ordered. This is regularly a spicy dish, but again, we got them to make it not spicy. A good amount of liver cooked just right in this dish-- it was so delicious! It was adorned with red and green bell peppers. Would love to try their mild/spicy version too!

Played around with the buns and liver slices!

My aunt suggested another traditional dish, Tea Smoked Duck ($16.95) + Chinese Buns ($3.00). Gosh this was so amazing I can't even really describe the flavor! There was a smokey and fragrant taste to the duck, which had crispy skin and tender meat. The flavors lasted for so long in my mouth-- it was just awesome with the soft moist buns!

I saw a lot of people order their Rice with Preserved Pork and Vegetable ($12.95). Presentation-wise, it's very appealing. Basically it was Shanghai bak choi diced with bacon pieces. The rice is fragrant and cooked perfectly. Everyone approved, but again, you can also get it during lunch for a cheaper price xD

Must have noodles for birthdays, so naturally the Shanghai Fried Noodles with Pork ($11.95) was chosen. You have an option of choosing pork or chicken with this dish. This was legit. Authentic Shanghai noodles pan fried to perfection with the right amount of seasoning. Great!

So they sometimes miss on some dishes, or they're just not to our tastes and liking, but overall I see great potential for this restaurant!! I feel one of the main reasons why we enjoy them is because our family prefers less salty foods than the average (you can tell them to put in less salt and oil in your dishes before you order!) Super excited to try all their dishes ^-^