dim sum Archives - Curiously Carmen

I’m not a fancy dim sum diner. Most of the places I go with friends or family are pretty casual, your typical semi-sketchy Chinese restaurant with questionable English descriptions, mysteriously stained carpets, and disgusting washrooms that haven’t been cleaned in eons as a restaurant attempt to save money. I’m joking…. maybe (not).

But hey, I’m Chinese myself and I was brought up in a family of said Chinese restaurant businesses and if you’re Chinese, you know it’s true. Don’t even deny it 😉 Nonetheless, the food served at these sub-par Chinese restaurants are always authentic and satisfy my dim sum craving. My family doesn’t believe in spending more money at a fancy Chinese restaurant, when you can spend less and have more food at a regular Chinese restaurant.

So it was quite a surprise as I found myself in such a fine dining Chinese restaurant one afternoon. This is what fancy dim sum looks like! Kirin has a few locations in Vancouver, we went to the one in downtown. The outside is deceiving since the restaurant looks smaller than it actually is.
First up, was the taro root puff. Basically, there is seasoned pork or other type of meat, depending on the restaurant, enveloped by taro. It is then slightly deep fried, so that only the outside layer is crunchy. I fell in love with the taro root puff at first bite. It was delicately crunchy, and tasted very fresh. The taro was a bit sweet and went well with the saltiness of the meat inside. I normally don’t order this dish at dim sum, but I think I’ll be trying it again at other places!

Up next, was the shui mai. Since there were only four pieces and six of us, I decided not to eat it so that the others could have it. It was one of my friend’s first time having dim sum, and she really enjoyed the shui mai.

The pan fried rice noodles came next. I am a big fan of rice noodles, and this plate was a lot better than most I’ve tried at other restaurants (what a difference fine Chinese dining makes, eh). I liked that some of the noodles were slightly crispy, which added some dimension to the dish. I’m paying more for this dish than at other restaurants, so I’m glad that it was made very well.

Afterwards, the deep fried tofu arrived! Just like the deep fried taro root, the deep fried tofu was very crispy but not overly fried or oily. The batter was quite thin, but just enough to be crispy. It was seasoned with garlic and salt, which went with the delicately soft tofu perfectly.

Up next, was our steamed shrimp dumplings! I wanted to dive in right away because I love my shrimp, but decided to wait until it cooled down =( Nothing special or bad in particular about this dish, it tasted average. The pan fried radish cake followed, I find that these are hit and miss at dim sum. At Kirins, it was a definite hit!

The radish cake was very moist and had a nice consistency, while the outside was lightly fried. There was some little dried shrimp pieces and pork (I believe, can’t really recall) as well.
Our last two dishes of the day! I really love my prawn and shrimp, and requested that we ordered the prawn spring roll. Give me anything with prawns or shrimp at dim sum, and I will be very happy. I’ve never seen prawn spring roll presented like this before, I thought that the batter looked a bit unusual. Turned out that it was actually wrapped in deep fried bean curd, cool! The bean curd was very flaky and crispy, which I loved. Since the batter wasn’t as thick, there was more prawn and garlic inside. For dessert, we ordered egg tarts. They were so delicious that we ended up ordering another plate, and I considered ordering one to go LOL. It was very warm, with a flaky crust and was a bit sweet. Overall, what a perfect egg tart should taste like.

Service wise, we were greatly taken care of and there were many staff walking around. However, I do think that the manager got mad at our table when we asked him to separate the bill. It’s not that common in Chinese places to ask for separate bills. It was definitely awkward. I’m not sure why he was so upset, it’s not like we weren’t paying and the restaurant wasn’t that busy when we paid. People do it all the time, he should get used to it even if it takes a bit longer to pay.

All the dishes at Kirin were executed very well, and demonstrated what delicious and ideal dim sum should taste like. My favourites were the deep fried bean curd spring roll and the deep fried tofu. For the price we paid, it was definitely worth it as the quality and preparation in each dish really showed.

-Carmen

Once in awhile, I have sudden cravings for dim sum, or “yum cha” as Cantonese people call it. One of my favourite places to go for dim sum is Wah Lun, which is located in North Burnaby. I’ve never tried their dinner menu, but their dim sum is pretty decent.

One thing I like about this place is their ample parking. Even if their parking lot is full, there is a City of Burnaby parking lot located footsteps away from the restaurant, plus street parking!

We went around 1:30 pm, which is pretty late for dim sum so it was easy to find parking.
Am I the only one here that misses the dim sum carts? Funny story, when I was a child I would only want to go to the Chinese restaurants that had carts because I didn’t want to wait around for food.

But of course, as I grew up, I came to accept the fact that dim sum carts are a thing of the past, in this city at least. But at least the food is fresher this way, even if there’s a longer wait time! If you’ve never had dim sum before, they give you this menu, and you write down how much of each item you want.

Any small dish costs $3.15, medium $3.85, and large $4.15. Beside each dish, it will tell you what size it is. We ordered 5 dishes which came to $22.
Another childhood story of mine- Whenever our family went to dim sum, I would only eat dishes that had shrimp or prawn. To this day, I still love shrimp and prawns, throw them in any dish and I would most likely eat it!

So of course, I had to order a prawn dish this time as well. This was the rice flour roll with prawn and Chinese vegetables ($4.25). Wow, so weird saying that in English, I’m used to saying it in Cantonese… anyways. We really enjoyed the dish. The prawns were very juicy and flavourful, plus the greens inside were fresh and crunchy too. It also wasn’t too oily, and I love the dim sum soy sauce too. I’m pretty sure it’s a mix of soy sauce, sugar, and msg and goes really well with this dish!
The second dish that we ordered was the bean curd wrap with oyster sauce ($3.85). I was a bit hesitant to try this but it was good as well. It was very juicy, and came with some mixed vegetables inside that tasted really fresh. When you bit into it, the liquid oozed out and you could really taste the fresh veggies! However, we didn’t taste any oyster sauce. I didn’t even know that it was supposed to have oyster sauce until I looked at our receipt.
Can you tell I love prawns yet?! This is my absolute favourite dish to order at dim sum. When I got to choose one dish to order as a child with my family, I would always choose deep fried prawn spring rolls! Their deep fried prawn spring rolls with golden garlic ($4.15) are amazing. The batter is super crunchy, and the shrimp are very juicy and seasoned well. It also comes with some garlic, but not too much to make it overpowering or your mouth smell bad for the rest of the day.

Topped off with the red rice vinegar sauce, this dish is amazing despite how bad it is for you! I’m also not sure why it’s called “golden” garlic, probably because Chinese people really like the word “gold” judging by how many places have the world “gold” in it, so it sounds more appetizing.
Next dish that came was the sticky rice wrap ($4.15). Honestly, on the menu it doesn’t sound that appetizing but let me tell you, it is really good! Sticky rice wrap is usually composed of glutinous rice, steamed inside a lotus leaf wrap, which brings more flavour to the rice.

Inside, there is usually pork, chicken, salted egg, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage. When I unwrapped the leaf, I was greeted by steam and a delicious aroma of the combination of rice and the leaf wrap. At first bite, it was bursting with flavour and came with a generous amount of lean meat and Chinese sausage.
The last dish we ordered was the pan fried radish cake with Chinese sausage ($3.85). It had a slight crispiness to it which is a good sign. It had a very soft texture on the inside, and was filled with tiny pieces of Chinese sausage. Yum!

Overall, we enjoyed our dim sum at Wah Lun. Their dishes taste fresh and are bursting, (or should I say steaming?) with flavour. My favourites would have to be the deep fried prawn spring roll and sticky rice wrap because it brings me back to my childhood. Service here is also attentive, and they are well staffed!

Kirin Seafood Restaurant

Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant, N. Burnaby