Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Noople Noodle & Dumpling House is at the same location as Sea House Fish & Chips, and the same owners as Sea House are actually in the kitchen still making their fish and chips. According to the new owner (who hopes to make Noople Noodle into a franchise), they are still in "soft launch" and very open to feedback. Therefore expect tweaks to continue happening. Standout features include under-$10 mains (e.g., Dan Dan noodles) and value for money with a filling amount of food, such as the Chicken Nugget and XiaoLongBao combo for $17.99). Signature Fish and Chips (2 piece, $12.50) Nothing wrong here. Crispy on the outside, didn't feel oily, tender and juicy fillet. My friend's order. He felt it was decent but not the best he's ever had. Still, a safe order at an okay price. Dan Dan Noodle ($7.99) Not sure what I was expecting here. I totally confused them with Kingyo's superb Tan Tan noodles  so I think I gave the owner incorrect feedback here. Oops. ...

Normally I'm nowhere near Port Moody but I was hanging out with a friend today and we wandered there. Very spacious on the inside, especially now that Covid has forced restaurants to space people out. Very generous spacing between tables. There's the usual bewildering array of Chinese restaurant staples in their menu but also a "Chef's Special Recommendations". Any two items on the list plus rice, daily soup, and daily dessert, for $42.95. So this would work out to over $20 per person, but you're likely to end up with one or two meals worth of takeout so it's actually closer to $10 per person. So whatever you think of the food quality, price for portion is definitely not lacking. Daily Soup (included in price of Chef's Daily Recommendations) Honestly this looks like stray bits too small to use and just tossed into a pot to brew until the soup is flavourful. It's okay, although the chunks of corn are awkward to eat. It will NOT be doggy bagged. I...

This restaurant has been around for a very long time and still has a decent number of customers -- which is generally a good sign that it's got something going for it. Overall, price for portion is really good and it's not just filler. Even the smaller "Mini-Set Meal" available from 12pm-6pm and 9pm-1am are of a decent, filling portion though at a couple dollars less than the regular menu. That's what we ordered from for lunch. Taste is around slightly better than mediocre but on the salty side. For a Chinese restaurant where the servers weren't good at English, service was really decent. Not brusque like it can be in Chinese restaurants. CASH ONLY. CASH ONLY. 25. Curry Chicken or Beef Brisket with Rice ($10.75) My friend went with the Curry Chicken. Chicken not at all overdone so I suspect it might have been freshly boiled and then added to the soup. Same with the vegetables, which were still on the crisp side instead of having sat in cur...

CASH ONLY. CASH ONLY. Pretty mediocre food, but it's not bad per se. Comes out hot. Value sort of debatable but portions are good -- you'll walk out full even if most of it was noodle. Value is a lot better if you are not dining solo. If you are, I recommend a larger sharing order for take-out and just portion it into two or three meals at home. Shrimp and BBQ Pork Fried Rice Noodle with Curry Sauce ($13.95, comes with a hot drink) Not really spicy at all. Separately offered hot sauce is not recommended as it's a different type of spicy heat from the curry. Overall nothing wrong here. This is a largish portion for one person, so if you are two persons you're better off ordering a single larger portion to share from the regular noodle menu. The closest is probably V4 under Fried Vermicelli. The Boss Signature Fried Noodle ($17.75) Mix of veggies, ham, shrimp, chicken, mushroom. Kind of an elusive amount of each. No doubt about it this is a pretty ma...

Caught up with a friend on Sunday and we snooped around the Crystal Mall food court for some cheap eats. Always in search of strange foods, I ended up trying "Chili Oil Rice Noodle" from Chef Rong Noodle House. And it's basically what's written -- rice noodles swimming in chili oil. It's rated three-chili spicy-hot on the menu board, but it really didn't have good heat or buzz. Also could really have used a spoon for the peanuts. Overall, it was somewhat boring but for just $6, you got a big, filling, bowl of soup and that's cheaper than a lot of other offerings at the food court. They also have those pancake burgers filled with crunch, similar to what you can get overpriced at Me Crepe but simpler. I didn't spot that on the menu but might try it next time just to compare.

Last time I was at Pearl Castle Cafe at Old Orchard Mall near Metrotown, I had a pretty lame tea . This time another friend dragged me there for lunch (her treat, so her choice) and it turned out to be really decent and good quantity for price! I didn't try their drinks/dessert again to re-review those. CASH ONLY. CASH ONLY. CASH ONLY. Assorted Stir Fried Spicy Pot ($9.95?) Spicy but not excessive and no lingering burn on the tongue. Not secretly filled with cheap veggies -- it's a smallish looking plate but they don't skimp on non-veggie content. Two big prawns included. You need to spend a couple bucks extra to "make it a combo" including rice. If another dish has rice already you might want to skip that depending on how much you can eat. Spicy sauce obviously ends up at the bottom. Remember to scoop deep for it if you're having it with rice. Simple yet delicious and a good mix of ingredients to keep it from being boring as you eat it. ...

DISCLAIMER: I grew up eating Chinese food and my mom's wonton soup, so Chinese food is comparatively mundane for me. If it's a delicious novelty for you, then you might want to rate this restaurant higher. NOTE: This is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant that uses meat substitutes. Part of my positive tilt on how I rate them is in the quality of the fakeness of the meat. B14 Assorted Vegetables and Wonton in Soup ($12.95) Overall pretty ordinary tasting. In fact, I'm a bit inclined to give it bonus points for tasting just like my mom's home cooking. Not exactly thick with wontons since this is mixed wontons and vegetables (and it says so right in the menu name), so if you're looking for tons of wontons and just token veggies, you might want to check with the server for something else to order. The wontons are themselves quite interesting from a fake-meat point of view. They actually taste fairly close to pork. But more than that, they actually make an effort...

Aside from a small selection of pastries, Bao Bakery also prominently features a lot of bao . They look like the chinese bao (similar to what you can get at the more dedicated Bao Place ) except the fillings sound decidedly Filipino. A bit strange for me since I was raised on the Chinese tradition but if you don't know bao well to begin with, think nothing of it and consider only whether it's tasty. I tried the one that sounded the most interesting and alien to me, which was "Chicken Deluxe (Bola Bola)", with filling containing chicken, pork, ham, and salted duck egg yolk (how many animal parts can you eat in one bite?). Taste is mediocre. The filling is OK but nothing to write home about. What Bao Bakery does offer however is a really decent amount of filling per bun--although from bun to bun you might get a bit more or less. In the pictures below I dissected two different buns from the same package. Two buns will trump a burger in the quantity of meat you...

Been years since I ate at Bao Bei. Last time we were a large group at a family table in the back. This time there were just two of us doing a Monday evening walk-in right when they opened. And that's probably the best way if you can manage it because the lineup started around 5:15 pm and they were basically full shortly after the restaurant opened for the evening at 5:30 pm ( accepts no reservations except for their family table ). Having grown up on Chinese food at home myself, my take on Bao Bei is that it serves the familiar foods you had at home, but magically made more interesting and tasty. It makes other Chinese restaurants look like lazy home-style. It's like everything had a something-extra something-special treatment. Portions are small for price, so if you want any chance of actually walking out of there full at $25+ per person (that's not including drinks), get the fried rice. bean curd skin ($5.50) king oyster mushroom, chili ginger vinaigrette Look...

After renovations, Xu's Wonton House is now Shanghai Dimsum House. Menu looks the same. Went back with a friend today and this time I also tried the pan fried version. 1. Bayulan Steamed Mini Pork Buns ($4.95 for 5) Tasty (and slightly fatty tasting?), flavourful broth inside. 7. Shanghai Style Pan Fried Pork Buns ($5.55 for 5) The golden-brown bottom looks suspiciously deep-fried. In any case, quite crispy in parts and that it can therefore snap and cause the soup to spill out. Basically you get a fried texture and flavour to #1 for just 60 cents more. The modest cost is really good enough that you should consider it, especially for take-out. Steamed buns don't travel very well in my opinion. Depending on your appetite, one or two plates is enough for a meal, so you are looking at a mere $4.95 to $10.50 for lunch. Tasty, and great value! Counter service was pretty crappy toward my non-asian friend. The server managed to avoid eye contact for a long time even...

Following a friend's recommendation, we went this morning to Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant to try, among other things, their intriguing siu mai with truffle! Interesting to note: NO SAUCE for anything! Even though you are charged $2 per person for "tea and condiment". TIP: Dim sum order checklist is only in Chinese, but thankfully the numbers correspond to the menu, which has pictures of most (key) items. Shrimp and Matsutake Dumplings ($5.98 for one steamer of five) Winner! Something about simply putting some truffle on it elevates this juicy siu mai. And also urges you to forgive how rather ugly it is. It is of course highly unlikely that you are seeing large chunks of real black truffle here. Probably Chinese fake truffles but using enough potent truffle oil--otherwise you couldn't get it at $5.98 per tray. Shrimp and Matsutake Dumplings ($5.98 for one steamer of five) Simple, tasty. Firm with prawns, very little filler just to hold it toget...