I am always on the lookout for fresh, hand pulled noodles. Noodles are my favourite type of food, hands down.

Thin noodles, thick noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli noodles, egg noodles, spaghetti… ALL noodles, I love em all.

So when I came across Nam Nam Noodle, I knew we had to check it out! While having lunch with my mom at Boiling Point across the street, she recommended it as well so the fiance and I came here for lunch the next day.

When I think of fresh, hand pulled noodles, I think of hole in the wall joints. However, Nam Nam Noodle actually had a nice, woodsy theme going on and seemed to be renovated from whatever it previously was.

It was quite clean inside, you could see the chef hand-pulling the noodles fresh to order and the chopsticks had their logo engraved into it.

Beef noodle soup: I went with the classic beef noodle soup. It was delicious and I found myself savouring every bite. The broth was light yet flavourful. It was not like the Taiwanese beef noodle broth, but a lot lighter with a hint of white pepper.

The sliced beef was very soft as well. But the star of the show was definitely the noodles! The noodles were a doughy, chewy delight. If you’re a fan of hand-pulled noodles like moi, you need to try them.

In addition, the noodles were very long too! It seemed like I was endlessly slurping on one strand of noodle!

Chicken nuggets: The fiance’s noodles didn’t come with meat, but it was okay because he wanted to try the chicken nuggets. They came piping hot, fresh, and crunchy.

The nuggets did not taste like the Taiwanese chicken nuggets with the 5 spice powder and star anise seasoning, but they were still very good.

Spicy oil spill noodle: The fiance went with a spicy, soupless noodle and really enjoyed it as well. At first, we were a bit worried the peppers would be the Szechuan peppers, which people either hate or love due to the intense numbing properties. He was glad to see that was not the case.

The noodles packed a nice, spicy kick. Compared to my thin noodles, these noodles were a lot wider and thicker.

All in all, we left very satisfied and happy. We will definitely be back in the near future when the noodle craving hits!

Yay!

No, I did not spell dollar wrong! Well, I did, but this is the way dollar is spelled at Dolar Shop. Despite its name, The Dolar Shop is not cheap! It should be called The Hundred Dolar Shop 😂.

Anyways, The Dolar Shop is a hot pot restaurant that opened up last year inside Lansdowne Center. The fiance and I have been wanting to try this place for a couple months, and finally were able to go one afternoon!

The Dolar Shop was unlike any other hot pot place in Vancouver. It was the fanciest hot pot place I have seen, and the prices definitely reflected that. After reading reviews, we came expecting that our lunch was going to be quite expensive.

Service was great from the moment we stepped inside the restaurant. After asking if this was our first visit, the hostess explained the process and how the pricing works. When we were seated, we were greeted by our server who was attentive and friendly throughout. She also explained the process in even further detail to us, the popular items, the soup bases, and even where the washrooms were.

We were also given large bibs to protect our shirts. As well, since this was a fancy place with a lot of their clientele wearing expensive designer purses and jackets, they also had chair covers to project your clothes.

The Dolar Shop has individual hot pots, in which each person chooses their soup base. Then, you order the raw ingredients which you share with everyone at the table.

For an extra $4, you get access to their sauce bar, appetizers, and fruits which was like a mini buffet before your meal.

Herbal mushroom soup: I wasn’t feeling like a meat broth since I would be putting meat into the hot pot, so I went with the herbal mushroom soup. The soup was clear yet flavourful, and had some herbal flavour to it.

I found it very comforting and reminded me of a homemade soup. It also came with an assortment of different Asian mushrooms.

Pork leg bone broth: The fiance’s soup was clear but flavourful as well. Surprisingly, he preferred my mushroom broth more because it was more savoury.

On to the hot pot ingredients! Since it was our first time, we didn’t really know how big the portion sizes would be. We ended up ordering way too much food and had trouble finishing everything.

Handsliced short rib (Canada AAA): The short rib was amazing, although quite pricey at $30 but we came here knowing it would be an expensive meal. The quality of the short rib was excellent though.

We also ordered some bean curd and tofu. We probably wouldn’t get the tofu again since we ordered so much food.

There was a surprising amount of napa cabbage and mushrooms. They were quite generous with these portions and all tasted fresh.

Hand sliced boneless wagyu plate: The fiance noticed this after we placed the order, so we added it afterwards.

We probably didn’t need to since the other beef plate was enough for 2 people. But this one was delicious too and there was a special promotion for it that day.

Cuttlefish: The cuttlefish would have been better if there was more than the two of us. It ended up being a lot of cuttlefish and we were trying to finish it up at the end.

However, the cuttlefish was fresh and soaked up a lot of the broth flavour.

Shrimp pate: I knew we had to get this as soon as I saw it! The shrimp pate came with water chestnut, which was slightly crunchy. Going back to the great service, our server noticed that I wasn’t sure how to put this in my hot pot and ended up helping us form it into bite sized balls.

The shrimp was bouncy and fresh. The water chestnut gave it a fun, slightly crunchy texture to it too! We’d definitely order this again.

Hand made noodles: We wanted to see how their hand made noodles held up! They were deliciously chewy with a nice bounce to it.

They also had colourful hand made noodles, but I read reviews that the regular ones were a better deal because it tasted the same.

Soft serve: At the end of the meal, they gave us a complimentary soft serve! The fiance really enjoyed the soft serve, noting the quality of it.

We left very satisfied and full with The Dolar Shop. Although it was pricey, the service and quality of food was great. It wouldn’t be a place I would come to regularly because I’m not made of money, but definitely a nice treat once in awhile.

I’ve been writing so many dim sum posts lately! I went from writing 3 dim sum posts in the past 5 years of my blogging life…. to 5 dim sum posts in the past 5 months!

This time for dim sum, my mom suggested trying Lucky Plus. We’ve been here for dinner a few times with relatives, and enjoyed the dinner because the prices were reasonable and food was alright.

This was our first time trying their dim sum. I have mixed thoughts because it was pretty cheap and they don’t charge for tea, but the quality was not as good.

Rice roll with fish paste: There could have been more fish paste inside the roll. I only had fish paste every other bite, and it was spread pretty thinly.

Rice roll with prawn: There was more prawn in here, but the prawns weren’t fresh at all! The prawns did not have a fresh snap to it, so that was a bit disappointing.

Prawn dumpling: The prawn dumplings were a nice and plump size! The prawns in this dish were a lot more fresh than the rice flour roll ones. There was a nice snap to the prawns.

Sticky rice wrap: The sticky rice was delicious as well. The rice was fragrant from the leaves, and there was a good amount of meat inside.

Beef omasum: Sadly, the beef omasum here did not taste super fresh either. It was also really oily which made it more soggy.

Egg tarts: I didn’t have any because of the dairy, but my parents enjoyed the egg tarts. The crust was nice and flaky while the custard was flavourful and creamy.

The prices here are cheaper than other dim sum restaurants, but some dishes are a miss. Most places charge a tea fee, but Lucky Plus doesn’t.

If I wanted some cheap dim sum, I would come back. I wasn’t as disappointed because the prices were cheap. But keep in mind – you get what you pay for!

Jin Jiang is a restaurant located close to Metrotown, underneath the Best Western Hotel. My family recently had dinner here to celebrate my dad and aunt’s birthdays!

Although Jin Jiang is located in the same building as the hotel, parking is separate. The restaurant has reserved parking underground, while the hotel parking is located on the ground level outside.

The layout of the restaurant was quite awkward. There was a giant wall in the middle of the restaurant. The restaurant also felt quite cramped as many tables were jammed close to each other, and also due to the random wall in the middle.

Braised bean curd with mushroom: The braised bean curd was a chilled dish that also had some wood ear mushroom. There was no complaints about it.

Deep fried chilled fish: I have no idea what the official name for this dish was, I couldn’t find it on the menu. Anyways, it was quite unique. The fish is deep fried first, and then marinated and chilled in sauce.

Since it was marinated afterwards, it wasn’t crunchy anymore but it was still good. The pieces of fish were pretty big too, although some of the meat wasn’t fully marinated.

Spinach & peanut: ? I’m not too sure what the exact name of this was… When I looked up the menu for the review, it was described as “wild beg as bean curd” ??? which was definitely not what we ordered! It was definitely crushed peanuts!

Anyways, this was a refreshing and clean dish to start off our dinner. The spinach was minced too. I ended up adding this to my rice after and it was yummy.

Cuttlefish with salted vegetables: This was the most disappointing dish of that evening! No one enjoyed it. The picture on the menu was completely different than what was served.

The cuttlefish was very bland, like they just boiled it. The salted vegetables did not pair nicely with the cuttlefish and it was just odd. I don’t think we ended up finishing it because no one wanted to eat it, LOL! A bad case of expectation vs. reality.

Stewed mix meat with pork blood hot pot: This hot pot came with an assorted mix of organs and intestines. They do not mess with spice here! The hot pot packed a lot of fiery spice. We ended up getting some bowls of rice to eat the spicy sauce with.

Dried cauliflower with sausage: This dish packed a lot of heat due to the Sichuan peppers, which numb your mouth.

Braised pork knuckle: The braised pork knuckle ended up being my favourite dish of the night. There was a lot of tender braised meat, which was very flavourful.

There was also some spinach underneath. I haven’t tried a dish like this but would order it again.

Shanghai thick noodle: The Shanghai noodles were alright, nothing much to complain about. We ordered this for the monkeys who couldn’t eat the spicy dishes. They were on the oily side though.

Xiao long bao: The XLB here were alright, not the best but still passable. The skin was thicker, usually a thin skin is more desirable. The broth was strangely sweet. There was a good amount of meat inside.

Overall, the dishes were hit or miss. I wanted to have some Shanghai noodle soup, but sadly they don’t offer their noodle soup dishes at dinnertime. I wish that was stated on the menu because I was excited for it.

I wouldn’t come back here willingly and definitely not my first choice… but if someone else wanted to, I would reluctantly. I’d definitely pick Shanghai River or Wang’s over Jin Jiang for Shanghai food.

Nay…