2012-01-02 Snacks @ Shanghai Ting 上海亭美食

#1130 - 4540 No.3 Road, Richmond

604-278-8335

We were hungry...and since we were running errands in Richmond...plus we had some time to kill before meeting up with Seto-san and Yipster at Phnom Penh, we dragged CW to have something to snack on.  Our previous visits to this Shanghai stall in Empire Centre were satisfying (see post 2010-07-18 Quick Lunch @ Food Courts and 2010-08-08 Quick Lunch @ Shanghai Ting), but after reading Janice's disappointing visit (see post Sad XLB: Shanghai Ting 上海亭美食), consistency was nowhere to be seen...so Buddha Boy and I wanted to check it out again.

Since it was chilly, on top of the XLB, I ordered a Vegetable Pork Wonton in Soup 薺菜豬肉餛飩.  The wontons had very limited amount of shepherd's purse 薺菜.  The wontons were overcooked.  The soup was bland.

Between this visit, our last two visits (photo & photo) and Janice's visit (photo), inconsistency was clearly to blame...all the Shanghai Steamed Pork Buns 上海小籠包 looked different...WTF?

The skin was thin but loose.  The soup was oily and salty.  The meat had this freezer-burn taste.  I had this place as my #4 place for XLB in 604, but now...need I say more?  I'll just stick with Long's Noodle House 小龍記麵家.

2011-01-29 Lunch @ Empire Centre

Looking for something to eat on Saturday, Buddha Girl and I braved the Richmond traffic in one of the worst areas, Empire Centre.

SHANGHAI TING

604-278-8335

Steamed Pork Buns (小籠包), or XLB, for $3.50, that's a good deal, it's not the best, but it's acceptable.  The soup part, while plentiful, was much too sweet.  We've had this here before and it was much better then.

Decent size XLBs.  The skin isn't thin or dry, but for the price, we'd order it again.

 See, there's a pretty good amount of soup, just too sweet this time.

 Their Pan Fried Pork Vegetable Wontons (油煎薺菜餛飩), thin skins and ample meat.  I ate most of these.

CHOI HOUSE SPECIAL CHICKEN

604-782-7899

 

While waiting for our food, Buddha Girl spotted a place that she wanted to try.

We ordered the House Special Spicy Chicken with Rice (鹽焗雞飯), the rice was supposed to be something special, according to the proprietor, especially with the sauce.

Well, the rice was pretty plain, but the chicken was actually pretty good.  For $7.50, this was just okay.

 Buddha Girl also ordered the House Special Spicy Chicken Kidneys (鹽焗雞胗)...basically chicken gizzards.  This was $5 and we both enjoyed it, it was a bit too tender, but it was still good.

JAMES SNACKS

604-716-1328

This was the place that has won an award each of the past two years for their clay pot rice.

I've been wanting to try this place for over a year, but they're always closed whenever we dropped by.  Finally, today, I was not to be denied.

 The dish that has won their most recent CRA award was the chicken and Chinese sausage rice pot.   It took about 10 minutes to cook, not a big problem since we had other food to munch on.

Nice plump chicken, some siu choy, and decent chinese sausage.  This smelled good.

Here's the yummy crust on the bottom, it came off in one piece.  When I first started eating this, I loved the tender pieces of chicken and the rice, then the whole experience went downhill as I poured the accompanying soy sauce.  The soy sauce they gave sucks.  It wasn't sweet nor fragrant nor tasty.  It actually ruined the dish.  I thought the soy mix was supposed to highlight the dish, but this went in reverse.  The soy mixture from The One Spot Soup House was better than this one.

 Has anyone tried both The One Spot Soup House and James Snacks?   I would say that with the soy, The One Spot Soup House was so much better, but without, then James was better.  But to me, you have to have the soy mix when eating these types of rice pots.  In the end, I'd have to give my preference to The One Spot Soup House.

2010-09-03 Dim Sum @ Shun Feng Seafood Restaurant

ADDRESS :  4380 No.3 Road, Richmond, BC (Parker Place)

PHONE #   :  604-304-6088

Since Buddha Boy took the day off, we thought we would go somewhere new for dim sum.  After we picked up Mrs. Big Lee, the most logical thing was to head into Richmond.  (Well, we did have the choice of Red Star on Granville...but who wants to go there?  It stinks!!!  Plus the three of us agreed, Red Star Granville has lost a lot of its "reputation" in the past few years...not worth our time and money.)

 

 We decided to try Shun Feng in Parker Place.  While we were waiting for seats, we recognized one of the so-called "managers" who works there...E-Boy...he formerly worked @ TG, then he went to work as a GM @ Red Star Richmond when it first opened...now he's here @ Shun Feng.  He recognized us and gave us 10% off plus no tea fee!  Smart guy!  LOL!

 

 Har-Gow...skins were quite thin...

 

 Chiu-Chow Fun-Goh...the har-gow had thin skins...but these had thick skins...I did not enjoy it.

 

 Award-winning Rice Rolls with Pork Liver...um...not sure HOW it won the Chinese Restaurant Award 2010...the rice rolls were thick (even though it was house-made)...not much flavor in the pork livers...the only good part was it had big chunks of livers.  Honestly, we've had better elsewhere!

 

 Rice Rolls with Chinese Donut...the donuts were quite doughy...

 

 Deep-Fried Curry Taro...not very good...not much fillings and these were cold (not even warm)...no good!

 

 Seaweed & Wasabi Shrimp Spring Rolls...one of Buddha Boy's all-time favorites...lots of shrimp...wasabi adds a good kick to the fragrant of the seaweed...quite nice!

 

 Egg Tarts...a bit too sweet...we should have order this at the end but we forgot...by the time we ate them...these were cold...LOL!

 

 Fish-Sauce-Marinated Chicken Feet...quite nice and refreshing!!!  The feet were quite meaty!  Buddha Boy doesn't like the way they cut the feet...but I didn't care much.

 

 Chiu-Chow Oyster Congee...it had very little oysters and lots of winter-melon chunks...I did not enjoy it, but I did like the fact that they used winter-melon soup...

 

 Szechuan-Style Lo-Bak-Goh...um...not sure what's so "Szechuan" about it...we thought it may be the hot & sweet dipping sauce that came with the dish.  The "nest" was quite stale because they make these in advance...usually restaurants would only make these "nests" when needed.

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ADDRESS :  Parker Fresh Meat, 4380 No.3 Road, Richmond, BC (Parker Place)

PHONE #   :  604-233-1138

 

  Though Shun Feng did not "wow" us...but we were full!  We decided to walked around to settle the stomachs!!!  We walked by Parker Fresh Meats and saw NO LINE-UPS!?!?!

 

  Parker Fresh Meat is also commonly known as Parker Place (Aberdeen) Meats & BBQ.

 

 Buddha Boy carefully "studied" the roasted pork and commented on how nice it looks...but since we were too full...we passed.

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ADDRESS :  #1130 - 4540 No.3 Road, Richmond, BC (Empire Centre)

PHONE #   :  604-278-8335

 Then we walked over to Empire Centre so Mrs. Big Lee can pick up some chicken to make soup stock for tomorrow's family dinner.  Since we're here, Buddha Boy wanted lo-bak (radish) pastries from Shanghai Ting. 

 

They packed three of the pastries in the to-go box...quite cute huh?  I usually only see this style used on TV or when I order them for weddings...adorable!

 

 Lo-Bak Pastries from Shanghai Ting...or radish pastries...Buddha Boy likes them, however, Mrs. Big Lee did not.

2010-08-08 Quick Lunch @ Shanghai Ting

ADDRESS :  #1130 - 4540 No.3 Road, Richmond, BC (Empire Centre)

PHONE #   :  604-278-8335

Since it was too late for dim sum (we woke up late)...we decided to head over to the food court at Empire Centre and have xiaolongbao.  Originally, we wanted to try the award-winning rice pots (in the same food court) but the place is closed on Sundays.

   This place is run by a former dim sum chef at Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai (one of the five-star luxury hotel in Shanghai, who also owns Peace Hotel in Shanghai).  Here is Shanghai Ting's website and menu.

 Vegetable Chicken Fried Rice - chunks of chicken, Shanghai bak-choy, some kind of luncheon meat.

 Wonton in Spicy Sauce - not too much chili oil (good...I don't like all that oil), the wonton wraps were light (not doughy) and the fillings were flavorful...our friend Big Lee noticed that they used lard in the sauce...a bonus point for Shanghai Ting!!!

 Hot & Sour Soup - very yummy...like the ones we get in Taiwan and HK...but of course...no pig blood...

 Xiaolongbao - though this place is not on my top three list for xiaolongbao, but it's definitely #4!!!  LOL!  The flavor was quite good and the skins were quite thin (when compare to a lot of other places out there).  For a food court stall, these were quite good...plus...it's only $3.50 for six buns! 

2010-07-18 Quick Lunch @ Food Courts

ADDRESS :  Shanghai Ting, Empire Centre, Richmond, BC

PHONE #   :  604-278-8335

Buddha Boy suggested that we do a "field trip" to the food courts.  Since Empire Centre, Parker Place, and Aberdeen Centre were all next to each other (well, kinda)...we decided to try them out first.  However, by the time we finished our second stop at Parker Place...we were too full to continue...so, see you next time Aberdeen.

Our first stop was Empire Centre.  Honestly, not all the stalls were open...some were on vacation while others are closed on Sundays.  I noticed that a lot of people in the food court ordered xiaolongbao from this Shanghai stall, so I thought I would give it a try.

Pork Pastry on the left...Lo-Bak Pastry on the right...Buddha Boy really enjoyed the lo-bak pastry!

Xiaolongbao...lots of juice...quite tasty...and it's cheap...just $3.50...though this stall has made my XLB list but it's only in 4th place.

Hot & Sour Soup...I find it too light on the vinegar...but this was just right for Buddha Boy.

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ADDRESS :  Joy's Taiwanese Kitchen, Parker Place, Richmond, BC

PHONE #   :  604-270-4898

 

After Empire Centre, we walked over to Parker Place to try few stalls in its food court.

Buddha Boy wanted to try the Taiwanese stall...honestly, the menu didn't look too appealing to me.

Buddha Boy ordered a Taiwanese Crispy Popcorn Chicken Rice Combo...it came with HK-style milk tea.

The chicken pieces were bland and the breading tasted funky...we did not enjoy this.

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ADDRESS :  Shanghai Goodies, Parker Place, Richmond, BC

PHONE #   :  604-232-1227

 

 I walked around and around, finally decided to try some Shanghai food.

This place has quite an extensive menu.  Actually, I decided to pay this stall a visit because I was attracted by the speed that the owner lady had when wrapping those Shanghai wontons...amazing!

Wontons in Chili Sauce...I was impressed...though it's not spicy enough for me, the wontons were firmly wrapped and the sauce was so tasty...love the crushed peanuts and peanut sauce (basically it's peanut butter and water)...YUMMY!

A friendly advice:  DO NOT TRY THIS!  These Xiaolongbao were one of the worst I have ever had...even worse than those T&T frozen ones.  The skins were super thick, no juice, meat was...was...funky...anyways...these were horrifying.

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ADDRESS :  Rainbow Cafe, Parker Place, Richmond, BC

PHONE #   :  604-276-0888

As we were walking away from the food court, we noticed the "dessert section" of the food court.

I noticed a small line-up at this so-called "cafe" so I thought I would carefully study their menu.

I ordered the Egg Pastry or Eggers or Mini-Eggers or Cripy Eggers...whatever you want to call it...and it was GOOD!  Just like the way I had it in Macau...not doughy (not like the ones you buy in nightmarkets here...gross)...not too sweet...and VERY CRISPY!  I ended up buying two more to share with my sister...YUMMY!