Dynasty

<2010-10-13 Wed>

No. 128

Dynasty is one of the many restaurants in "China Block".

I have been thinking about coming this place for a while. I was very curious about their crab. The entrance says: Live Crab, limit 1.

I like crab and I don't get many opportunities to eat it at lunch time.

As the waiter approached, even before I sat I said: "I want the crab". The waiter looked startled. He asked me if I wanted , to which I replied I wanted the crab special mentioned in the entrance. Another waiter had to be called, and she looked like she understood. Later came back and said that no crab was available.

No crab. Darn! I feel cheated.

I looked at the menu. It is rich with options, and less formulaic than the Ocean Garden. Had I come with somebody else I'd venture into more expensive dishes that seem made to share, like the steamed salmon. I settle for eggplant and pork belly schezuan style (I have "a thing" about Schezuan style of cooking). I suspect I was given the dinner menu because it only had one "special", and most dishes were above 12 dollars. I am ok with that. I actually prefer good food that value food.

Almost every table has a Chinese person. Its size is in the "medium" range, compared to the other Chinese restaurants in the block. The music--Chinese style--is slightly loud, making it somehow annoying. Even though it only has windows in the front, it feels brighter than Ocean (which is in a corner). Partially it is the white cloths on the tables, which beautifully bright the place, and make the tables more elegant.

As I waited, I observed how the table next ordered. They were given a different menu than me, one with photos. I later discover that they have dimsum at lunch. I suspect that, because they don't the number of clients as Don Mee, people have to order their dim sum from the menu. It also explains why the other tables have dim sum. Ok, my mistake. I jumped the gun by ordering before I got a menu.

The dish arrived. I could hear the signs of approval of the looks of my plate from neighbouring another table. It looked and smelled wonderful. And it tasted wonderful too. The meat was tender and the eggplant was braised to perfection--soft but without falling apart.

When I think about the dish I was served the day before (schezuan prawns on rice, at Ocean Garden) and compare it to this, there is no contest. Dynasty is head and shoulders above Ocean Garden's food. I paid more, but I was left with leftovers for dinner.

How does it compare to the other Chinese restaurants? That is a more difficult question. The food I received was recommendable, and I am already planning my dim-sum lunch visit. And yes, I still want my crab!

The crab-bait-and-switch scam was the only thing that made me cautious of fully recommending it.

Verdict: tasteful food that feels authentic.

For more information, including address, please visit:

Ocean Garden

No. 127

Located at the corner of Government and Fisgard, I consider it the most "tourist" oriented of the restaurants in China Block.

If you ever walked by it, you will see that this place is usually full of non-Chinese. Yet, the signs are written in Chinese and English.

I wasn't sure what to expect. The place is large, clean but feels run down. Its best times are long past.

The lunch menu is massive. Items range from 7 dollars to 10. As I have learned, at Chinese restaurants I avoid the preset lunches; instead I try to find interesting dishes in the menu. Its menu, like it is frequent in Chinese restaurants, is really a bunch of "combinations": do you want rice or noodles? soft noodles or crispy noodles? do you want pork, beef, shrimp, seafood, chicken? do you want sauce X, Y or Z? It would be significantly easier to decide if the provide a "choose one of each" type of menu, rather than listing every possible combination.

I settled for "Schezuan prawns on rice".

The dish is huge, full of vegetables, but too much sauce on it. It disappoints. It is messy and lacks good flavours. There is nothing special about this dish. My suggestion? there are better restaurants in the block, hence avoid, unless you are looking for a lot of cheap food.

Surprisingly, the restaurant always looks busy from the outside. Go figure.

Verdict: Avoid

Paid: 10 + tip

For more information, including address, please visit:

Shanghai City

<2010-10-07 Thu>

No. 125

This is a huge restaurant, in the second floor of a building in China block. It probably sits around 200 persons, and at 1:30, I was the only one. Perhaps it is the grey weather outside,

It feels as Chinese as a restaurant in Canada can be: many round tables with a lazy Susan. There is Chinese music playing softly in the background. A small water tank shows the customers that the crab is fresh. And there is the usual Chinese paraphernalia found in any Chinese restaurant in the world (including China).

The entrance advertises crab, and I was tempted to order it. Next time, when I have a little more time.

I was seated at a table next to the window. It is a nice view of the street from up here.

The lunch menu is full of options: around 20, plus 2 "typical" specials (what every Westerner expects in a Chinese restaurant). The full menu is also available at lunch time, but didn't look at it.

I ordered the "Shanghai Style Beer Brisket Noodle Soup". It is a mouthful to pronounce. At 8.95 it is one of the most expensive lunch specials (the cheapest is 5.95, which sets a new "record" for places I have visited). I reckon that, if the name of the restaurant is Shanghai City, then a dish with the name should be a speciality.

And it is also a mouthful to eat: it is a huge bowl. Brisket is a hard meat to cook, and one the best ways to do it is to braise it. The meat in this dish has been braised, and had a slight sweet flavour in it, which I enjoyed (but some pieces were still a bit tough). The noodles are nicely cooked, but the broth could improve with some zest. I liked the large vegetable in it (I have to look it up). I finished the bowl, and I am absolutely full. I need a walk!

Verdict: good value, but not a lunch that gets me excited.

Paid: 10.02 + tip

Mee Wah

No. 118

<2010-09-29 Wed>

It had been at Mee Wah two or three times for lunch before, and I had been very disappointed: the emphasis had been on volume rather than quality. One of my Chinese friends likes the restaurant, but I think he is heavily influenced by the price he pays.

As my plan is to visit every restaurant in Victoria again, I had to eat there. This time, I spent more time perusing the specials: 16 lunch specials at a hard to beat price: $6.50. Yes, 16.

I think at Mee Wah it is a matter of ordering correctly. The meals I had in the past have been huge, but they haven't been very good.

At lunch time the customers are not Chinese, and that probably biases the menu heavily. At lunch time, every time I have been here, I see a lot of old people, and I wonder if many of them are in a day trip from one of the many retirement homes in the area. Certainly the table next to me was such a case.

I decided to go for duck on rice. The meal was simple, yet good. For the price, I felt I got an excellent lunch. And this is the key to a meal: the ratio cost/benefit.

You can't expect a restaurant that serves food for $6.50 to match the one that is served by a restaurant that charges 13 dollars a dish. In fact, this was the case, when yesterday I ordered duck at Blighty's for $13 and today duck again for $6.50. If I didn't have to pay, hands down the Blighty's is a better choice. But once I pay, I would say this is a tie: Blighty's serves duck in a sophisticated dish at a good price, Mee Wah serves duck in a very simple way at a excellent price. My choice? I would eat either one of them, depending on how the days goes.

Verdict: ample amount of food, and rock bottom prices. Quality varies across dishes.

Paid: 7.30 + tip

For more information, including location, please visit:

Wah Lai Yuen Restaurant and Bakery

<2010-09-15 Wed>

No. 107

Once in a while, I stop by at Wah Lai Yuen and buy 1/2 a duck for take out. Duck is one of their signature dishes--the other barbecued pork--something you can see from the window. This is one of storefronts that defines China Block.

Given the size of the storefront, it is a large restaurant inside. It sits approximately 60-70 people.

I ordered the duck wonton soup. It was a combination of duck meat and wontons. and it was very good. It was flavourful, full of wontons, with many pieces of duck, and vegetables (bok choy).



If you are picky, you might dislike the duck bones. They come with the territory and I don't mind them (for instance, I was served a piece of neck, which is primarily bone).

The service was expedite: I ordered, and in less than 5 minutes my food was in front of me. My bill appeared as I was finishing without asking. Definitely a place where you can have lunch in a pinch.

It was a pleasant surprise, and definitely a place I will come back to.

I recommend the take-out too. Once in a while I get 1/2 a duck.

Verdict: Recommended (with reservations, see above)

Paid: I didn't write it down, but it was around 10 dollars + tip.

For more information, including address, please visit:

Honk Kong West, Revisited

I love this restaurant. It is my favourite Chinese restaurant.

This time I came with no Chinese translator. I tried to order the fish I had the last time by showing photos of it (the waitress was the woman who owns it, her husband runs the kitchen), but got beef instead. I didn't mind it.

The food was as delicious as the last time, but it was less spicy (which I recommend, Szechuan food can be very spicy). At the end of our meal I had a chance to talk to the owner. I expressed to her how much I appreciated her food, and we chat about the different offerings she has. She mentioned that a lot of her customers are not used to the spiciness of their food, but she is trying to introduce them to the flavours slowly. I, for one, want to continue to explore their food.

After two visits, I can say with confidence that Honk Kong West is my favourite Chinese restaurant in town.

Verdict: Recommended, but watch for the spiciness

J & J Wonton and Noodle House

<2010-08-24 Mon>


No. 85



I used to eat lunch at JJ around once every two weeks, but I can't remember why I stopped going there.

The restaurant is popular, and if you come at the busiest times, you you will have to share one of the big tables (something I kind of enjoy, although many people bury their heads in their plates,
oblivious to the rest).

Usually, JJ has two specials, and at least one of them is a soup.I Ordered the Szechuan Halibut soup. It promptly arrived.

The fish was good, but the soup tasted like canned tomato with a hint of sugar. The good fish wasn't enough to overcome it. There was no Szechuan flavour, in my opinion. The noodles in the soup felt soggy (uncoooked, I think). Overall, a complete disappontment. I would think twice before coming here again.

Verdict: Mediocre food.

Paid: 9.52 + tip

For more infromation, including address, visit:

Don Mee

No. 70

<2010-08-10 Tue>

Don Mee specializes in dim sum at lunch time. Even though the restaurant is large, during the weekends there is usually a waiting queue, and depending on what time you arrive, you might have to wait for 10-20 minutes. On the weekdays, however, you can usually find an empty table.

Dim sum is composed of small portions of food, that are served from carts that travel the restaurant, visiting each table. The waitresses (they are usually women at Dim Sum) push their wares, trying to convince you that you want one. I frequently wonder if they are paid on commission.

It can be overwhelming to eat at a dim sum restaurant, particularly the first time. You don't know the variety of foods, and it is hard to avoid the temptation to order from the first carts, rather to wait for the "ideal" ones (the ones we would really like).



Fortunately the first to show up was the crab claws in shrimp cakes (photo at the top). MG immediately said yes (and I like them too). Almost immediately one of my favourites showed up: sticky rice (photo above). I love sticky rice, and I usually order it at Don Mee (I usually don't wait for a cart to pass by, I order it directly from the staff).



MG ordered some type of rice cakes, which I didn't find particularly interesting (photo above), then some semi-crispy rolls (which were a bit soggy--photo below).



We were almost full, and we spend the time talking, waiting for a dumpling cart to pass by. Many others did before. Finally, I got a basket of scallop dumplings, which were ok.



In order, I liked the crab cakes the most, followed, by the sticky rice and the scallops, at the bottom the other two dishes (which I would not order again).

It is better to go to dim sum with company; otherwise 2 baskets are enough for one person, but one misses the fun of trying many more.

Interestingly, and like my experience at Honk Kong West, they have menus written in Chinese only. In fact, we saw a group of Chinese people being served food that we could not see in the menu. I definitely need to come with a Chinese person to these restaurants.

Verdict: it can be a good lunch, but it will heavily depend on your choices (and your patience to wait for them).

Paid: 15.50 + tip

For further information, including address, visit:

Hong Kong West

No. 59

Guest photos by JD.



<2010-07-22 Thu>Authentic Schezuan food that feels like touching a 9-volt battery terminals with the tongue.

A friend, whose food taste I trust, recommended me Honk Kong West as authentic Schezuan food, and added: you need to go with a person that speaks Chinese. Apparently it changed ownership not long ago.

Today it is less a secret that many Chinese restaurants have two menus: the English and the Chinese one, that are totally different. Frequently restaurants think that non-Chinese will not like the authentic fare. In Richmond I have been "invited" by the waiter to change my order because I might not like it.

I enlisted my Chinese interpreter, HZ, by bribing him to a free lunch.

We arrived early, and were greeted by a family of Chinese immigrants who run the restaurant: they look like the grandparents and teenage grandson. They appear to be the front and back operation of the restaurant.As soon as we stepped into the restaurant, they talked to HZ in Chinese, and during our entire meal we exchanged very few words in English with them.

We sat and HZ was given a menu. In China, it is common that one person orders for the entire table. The plates are to be shared. HZ explained to me that this is an important responsibility that cannot be taken lightly: the choices should match between each other; and one must order meat and vegetables to have a full meal. The menu had more than 30 options, all written in Chinese. It reminded me of my days in Japan where food lottery was a common method of ordering until I got slightly familiar with the Kanji.

"Order as if you were at home, we will eat everything", I stated. JD nodded in approval. HZ enquired about our willingness to eat frog, to which both gave a thumbs up. We ordered three dishes: Poach Fish with hot chilli - 水煮鱼 (pronounced as Shui Chu Yu), spicy bullfrog - 香辣牛蛙 (pronounced as Shiang La Niu Wa) and dry-fried french beans with minced pork and preserved vegetables - 干煸四季豆 (pronounced as Gan Bian Si Ji Dou), plus some rice.



The first to arrive was the fish. We could immediately see it was going to be spicy: it was loaded with garlic and chillies. We promptly filled our plates and were surprised by that sudden rush that accompanies authentic Szechuan food. It is a sudden tingling of your tongue, like if it is getting numb (and one of the strong memories I have about eating in China). I have always being curious about what creates it, my gut feeling was that it was star anise (another typical spice of Szechuan food) and checked the wikipedia. I was wrong: the tingling is produced by the Sichuan Pepper and cites Harold McGee book "On Food and Cooking", a book that any kitchen nerd (like me) who likes food (like me) or likes to cook food (like me) should have in his bookshelf. Harold explains:

"The [..] Sichuan pepper [..] offers a strange and interesting version of pungency." and continues "[The pungency compounds in the Sichuan pepper] produce a strange, tingling, buzzing numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or a mild electrical current (touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery [who hasn't done that!])." [They] appear to act on several different kinds of nerve endings at once, induce sensitivity to touch and cold in nerves that are ordinarily nonsensitive, and so perhaps causes a kind of general neurological confusion".



How true the description is, and how amazingly refreshing it feels.

You have to be warned: Szechuan food is not for everybody. It is loaded with chillies, so after your tongue feels numb and opens, the rush of the chillies kicks in. Amazing food. The fish, I believe it was basa, worked well with the dish and was well cooked. Overall a dish that will make me come back on its own.

The frog was ok. Interesting, but not memorable. The beans, on the other hand, were another delicious addition to an already rich meal.

It was spicy, we had to ask for extra napkins (to clean our dripping nostrils), and tea, and we ate and ate and ate, and could not finish the food. HZ gave the best compliment: "This is food as if I was in Shanghai--except for the frog".

As we devoured our meal we noticed the daily specials: the food that you would expect in any Chinese restaurant: the combos, with the rice, roll and some stir fried food. We could see the woman in the table next to ours ordering from that menu..

Like Antony Bourdain explains in one of the episodes of his tv show "No Reservations": in these Chinese restaurants there are two different worlds, few meters away from each other, one often unaware of the food the other is eating.

Get your translator and try it. Just bear in mind: Szechuan food is not for the weak of tongue, mouth or stomach.

This place is worth exploring. I have not been excited about a local menu for a long time.

One warning: some of these dishes take time to cook. We were the first to arrive and received our first plate around 15-20 minutes after we ordered.

Verdict: Authentic Szechuan food that feels home made. Another of Victoria's secrets. Recommended if you can handle it.

--dmg


Paid: 15/person + tip

For more information, including address, visit: