During the Easter long weekend, my dad and I went out for dim sum ourselves seeing that my mom and the boyfriend had work. We didn’t know where to go, but he suggested Happy Valley which was fine with me! I’ve been here once a few months ago with the boyfriend’s family for dinner. I remember it being pretty decent for dinner.

Happy Valley is located in a random spot, with not many other restaurants near by. There is a huge parking lot and free street parking, but during peak hours it can still be hard to find a spot!

Beef omasum with ginger & onion: I was surprisingly impressed with the beef omasum here! Usually, I find this dish to be quite oily, heavy and the omasum to be not fresh tasting. However, this was not the case at all!

The omasum here was delicious. There was not much oil in it, so perfect for me. In addition, it was garlicky and gingery which I loved.

Shrimp rice flour roll: No complaints about the rice flour roll here. It was yummy and a good portion.

Sticky rice wrap: I wasn’t a big fan of the sticky rice wrap here. They use a different type of leaf, which is harder. My dad told me the name of this leaf, but I forgot it now.

Anyways, since the leaf is thicker, I find that the leaf flavour doesn’t fully absorb into the sticky rice. I like the thinner, more fragile leaves which give the rice a more fragrant flavour.

Steamed spareribs: I’ve never been a big fan of spareribs, but everyone else seems to like them. Spareribs usually come with a black bean sauce. Here, they were served with a garlicky sauce with some peppers.

Overall, I’m glad that my dad and I tried Happy Valley for dim sum. I wouldn’t mind coming back here in the future!

If you grew up in Vancouver and you are Chinese, chances are, you’ve been to Sun Sui Wah for a wedding/baby celebration/any celebration etc. At least I have been multiple times throughout the years!

Chinese food is one of the hardest cuisines for me to eat now with my digestive issues because most food is very oily. But I didn’t want to miss out on a family gathering so I came along. I was mostly just there for socializing but was able to eat a couple of dishes.

Special thanks to Maki, Nigiri and the boyfriend for describing the food taste to me!

Roasted squab: We started out with a roasted squab, which is a family favourite! However, the meat was quite dry so it was disappointing.

Jellyfish: The jellyfish was also disappointing as well. There wasn’t much flavour to it. The boyfriend ended up adding some salt from the squab dish, which helped.

Sauteed prawn and vegetable: A safe dish for me! After the first 2 disappointing dishes, this one was enjoyable. The prawns were very snappy and had a nice flavour from the wok (aka wok-hei or wok-air). The garlic was tasty as well.

Soya sauce chicken: We weren’t planning on ordering this, but the waitress recommended it and said it was one of their best dishes. Well, she was right and we all enjoyed it! The chicken was well marinated, very tender and juicy. I was able to eat the chicken breast part and enjoyed it a lot.

Spicy eggplant in clay pot: Another favourite dish. This usually contains tofu, which is delicious because it gets marinated in the sauce. However, there wasn’t any tofu in here which was a bit disappointing.

Honey garlic spare ribs: No one had any complaints about this dish!

Scallop egg white fried rice: A simple, carb dish to end our meal. The fried rice surprisingly wasn’t that oily which was nice.

Tapioca pudding: Tapioca pudding is so good! Sadly, I couldn’t have some since it contained dairy and I didn’t bring my Lactaid pills (although those don’t work sometimes either). Everyone enjoyed it a lot and said it wasn’t super sweet.

Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant has been one of my go-tos for dim sum for many years. They changed their name to Ryan’s Chinese Restaurant a few years ago, but also still go by Wah Lun as well.

I wrote about Wah Lun 5 years ago so it’s time for an updated post!

Due to my stomach problems, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here or have had dim sum – at least a year? The boyfriend and I came here with my parents one afternoon when my stomach was feeling okay. It was good to be back!

Specialty BBQ pork buns: If there’s one thing you must get here, it is their BBQ pork buns! They have the best BBQ pork buns ever. The bun is coated in a sugary egg yolk thing, and is always fresh and fluffy.

The BBQ pork inside is juicy, flavourful and delicious too. They often bring these out fresh and you they smell sooo good.

Sticky rice wrap: The sticky rice wrap was fragrant and flavourful.

Radish cake: I didn’t have any of these, but everyone else enjoyed it. The radish cake here is cut into cube sized pieces and deep fried. Each piece was seasoned well and had a slightly crunchy exterior.

Shrimp rice roll: I love shrimp rice rolls! The one here was decent, no complaints about it.

Steamed prawn dumpling: The shrimp dumplings were fresh and had a good dumpling to shrimp ratio. There was a fresh snap to the prawns.

Bean curd wrap: The boyfriend quite enjoyed the bean curd wrap. It is one of his must orders at dim sum! This one did not disappoint unlike the bean curd wrap at Fraser Court.

I’ve been to Fraser Court many times for dim sum over the years, but didn’t realize that I never actually wrote about it! Dim sum is something I love, but don’t get to enjoy as much now due to my digestive problems.

However, there are times when my stomach feels okay so the boyfriend and I finally went for dim sum after over a 9 month hiatus! Fraser Court is one of our go-tos, so we played it safe and went here.

There is a parking lot, but it can be quite busy during peak dim sum period and Jethro’s Fine Grub (bleh) is also located in the same building. There is plenty of free street parking around though.

Sticky rice: One of my favourites, and it is one of the healthier options that I can eat because it’s steamed! Sticky rice is very filling, so we only managed to eat one (which is fine because leftover dim sum is delicious too). There was a generous amount of pork and the sticky rice was fragrant.

Shrimp dumpling: Another one of my favourites! The shrimp tasted fresh and had a nice bounce to it.

Shrimp rice flour roll: Clearly I love my shrimp. The best part of rice flour rolls is the dim sum soya sauce, which is mixed with sugar and MSG… so bad for you, but life is about eating delicious food sometimes (within reason, don’t eat everyday!).

Again, the shrimp had a nice bounce to it and tasted fresh. Some places add a couple pieces of Chinese vegetables, but this place didn’t.

Bean curd wrap: This is one of the boyfriend’s favourite, but unfortunately it was very disappointing that day. The meat inside the bean curd was oddly dense… like, SUPER, SUPER, dense.

Deep fried taro dumpling: As much as I wanted to eat this, I didn’t because I would pay for it later with stomach pain! If made perfectly, deep fried taro dumplings have a light, crispy, crunchy batter and a savoury filling. The boyfriend enjoyed this a lot more than the bean curd wrap.

Minced fish paste rice flour roll: Yup, we love our rice flour roll – this is the boyfriend’s favourite rice flour roll. The inside was lightly battered, giving it some crunch.

Minus the disappointing bean curd wrap, we left very satisfied and with a lot of leftovers for later!

Fraser Court is a decent option for dim sum in Vancouver, and we will definitely be back sometime… just not too often because my stomach wouldn’t be able to handle so much heavy food on a regular basis!