604: Wang's Shanghai Cuisine (Vancouver)

This restaurant was recommended by a friend, whom we used to have our regular meet-ups at Top Shanghai. So when she mentioned this place, I knew that her recommendation would be reliable (not to mention that her fiance is also Shanghainese so it's definitely reliable).

I've never had such amazing green onion pancakes before, and so it deserves a detailed review in Chinese as well. I think it's the best scallion pancakes I've ever had and we all had to order seconds. The outside is ultra flaky and the inside is soft and slightly chewy. The photos I took don't do justice! I'm pretty certain that they added lard in the dough and deep fried this, but it wasn't too greasy or filling at all. This delicacy was worth every single calorie.

The steamed soup dumplings (Xiao Long Bao), pan fried dumplings, and pork buns are all of high quality, but I still think Top Shanghai Cuisine still has it marginally better. Mainly because they've used leaner pork in this restaurant, which is healthier, but as a result, the flavor of the broth isn't as rich. Regardless, I would also say that this restaurant far exceeds the renowned restaurant in Shanghai, Jia Jia Tang Bao, known for their soup dumplings (I think their skin is slightly gummy).

The dumpling skins were rolled out one by one and I'm quite pleased with how thin they can roll em'. Whether it's the steam or fried dumplings or the buns, each of them is filled with flavourful soup.

Out of curiosity, I ordered the sticky rice dumplings as well, but that was just okay. It's a bit bland. The beef roll was also so-so. I've had better ones (I.e. Xi'An Cuisine at the Public Market).

Too bad this restaurant opens at 5:00 pm, otherwise, I'd totally make a trip over for their scallion pancakes and a cup of soy for breaky! And I love supporting small local businesses!

Location: Here

Price: $65 for everything you see here

Overall Taste: 4.7 / 5

Xiao Long Bao: 4.6 / 5

Pan Fried Dumplings: 4/5

Fried Pork Buns: 4.4/5

Beef Roll: 3/5

Sticky Rice Dumplings: 3.5 / 5

Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️

Seating: ⭐️⭐️

Price Performance ratio: 5/5

Joyee Cooks: Thai Style Burger Patty

Recipe altered from blue ribbon, hot model, Cheff Coco's original recipe:

Ingredients:

• Minced pork 300 gram

• 1/2 onion (diced and cooked till translucent)

• 2 tbs breadcrumbs (opt out if you are on a keto diet, but discard 1/2 an egg)

• 2 tbs yellow or red curry paste

• 4 lemon leaves (stem removed and finely chopped)

• 1 egg

• 1 tbs fish sauce

• a dash of salt

• a dash of pepper

• 2 tsp sesame oil

Procedure:

1.) Add diced onion into minced pork. Combine well.

2.) Add egg and mix well

3.) Add condiments and mix well (except for oil)

4) Add curry leaves, then sesame oil and mix well.

5.) Heat cast iron pan or wok with a tablespoon of oil.

6.) Scoop pork mixture and mold it into a burger patty form and place it gently onto the preheated pan. Brown both sides

7.) Add 3 tbs of water into the pan and cover it with a lid. let it steam cook until all the water evaporates. Flip the patty to the other side and repeat the process.

8.) Once all the water evaporates, turn off the heat and let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes (to ensure it's totally cooked through)

9.) Serve

* If you are unable to find curry leaves, you may substitute it with 3 tbs finely chopped lemon grass. Or add both if you have them!

Her original recipe could be found here

Ideas: Serve with rice or pasta

Taste: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Recipe keeper? Yes

Pros:

- healthy

-aromatic but not overpowering.

- No sugar which means it’s Keto friendly!!

Cons: NA

604: Hei Hei Rice Roll (Richmond)

Seems like there are a lot more hidden gems at the Richmond Public Market Food Court these days. Recently, there's this new Rice Roll hype circulating around Vancity. This Hei Hei Rice Roll food stall boasts about their hand roll rice rolls from choosing and grinding quality rice to form their secret rice roll batter, then steaming and rolling them into rice rolls.

Their opening hour was 11 and they start accepting orders at 10:50. When I arrived at 10:55, there was already a massive line. By the time I got to put in my order and got my rice rolls, it was already 11:20. That's a pretty long wait for a Monday morning in Richmond. Normally every where is dead in the morning in Richmond.

This is my first time trying these Guan Dong style rice rolls and the texture is quite interesting; but since I've never had it before I'm not sure how authentic it is or how it should taste like.

The rice rolls are thin and has a reasonable amount of meat in it. Amongst the three meats - shrimp, pork and beef - my favourite was the shrimp. The shrimps are on the firmer side and is mildly crunchy, so you know they use better quality shrimps. The beef and pork rice rolls are stuffed with flattened minced meat, that is mildly gamey and sticks to your teeth slightly. I'm not used to this texture and taste since the Hong Kong Dim Sum style beef rice rolls are normally very aromatic with the cilantros and dry orange peels, and the beef texture are a lot smoother (they probably add a lot more oil). I've also never had pork rice rolls before and that's my least favourite since it's on a blander side.

I also ordered the plain ones because that really puts the chef's culinary skills on a test. Their plain rice rolls are soft and a little chewy. I've never had rice rolls that's chewy so I was a little thrown off by it. I quite like the chewiness but I have definitely had softer rice rolls in Hong Kong. For every bite of the plain rice roll, I made sure it was completely drenched in soy sauce, sesame sauce and Hoison sauce. By the end of the meal, I wasn't sure if the condiments was the main and the rice rolls were the sides; but that's not important. That's the proper way to eat it and it was delicious. That being said, I still prefer the rice rolls from NamShan - they make the softest rice rolls!

On a side note, my other favourite stalls at the Richmond Public Market include the Xi An Cuisine and the Peanut's Bubble Tea.

Location: Here

💵 Price:$5.5 to $8.5 - steam rice rolls

🤤Taste: 4.7 / 5

📈 Price Performance ratio: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Retention Rate: 50 / 50

🕯Atmosphere: NA

🪑Seating: Food court seating

📍 Richmond

Pros:

- Made fresh

- Thin rice rolls

- A great and light breakfast / lunch

- Great value

Cons:

- Long wait