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
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