What else do Chinese people eat on Sunday mornings?? Yaps, we went to join the crowd for dim sum at Fortune House Seafood Restaurant in Metropolis. Today was a special day! Marv ‘n I were meeting up with my friends Sharon, Meryl and Marvs friend Duarte for dim sum! MY friends arrived earlier than us, whereas MARVS FRIEND WAS LATE!! LATE!!!…just buggin u Duarte ….. but LATE nonetheless…however…….that’s the Duarte we’ve come to know! ahah 🙂
Fortune House Seafood Restaurant
4500 Kingsway Avenue, Burnaby BC
Tel: (604) 438-8686
I have to admit, we were a bit ambitious this morning and decided to order a ton of food! Don’t believe me?! See for yourself! 😀
There’s the list that we ordered…btw none of us can read chinese, so we opted for the english menu, however it comes out printed in Chinese. The first dish to arrive was the Deep Fried Taro with Shrimp and Pork Dumplings.
This was very crispy and not oily like other places. The taro taste was not as strong as I would’ve liked it, however the filling was plentiful.
Our next dish was the Baked BBQ Pork Pastry.
We found this dish to be very dry and heavy. It was cold and not very tasty. On hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have ordered this one since we ordered 2 other bbq pork bun dishes lol!
Next up was the Steamed Beef Balls with Bean Curd Sheet.
The beef balls were quite big and tasty. It had a good texture, and was well seasoned. Marv wanted to eat the entire thing, but we’ve got him working on SHARING. 🙂
Next was a dish of my picking. Sticky Rice with Pork, Shrimp & Sausage in Bamboo Leaf Wrap.
Well, I found this dish to be delicious! The rice wasn’t mushy and it stuck together quite well. The filling was nicely seasoned, I enjoyed this dish very much. (That’s not a hair in the picture…it’s just a string part of the leaf wrap)
Marv and Sharons favourite came out next!
The Steamed Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce. Marv would’ve preferred this to be more spicy, but it was still good.
Ahh, another one of my favourites came out next!
Baked BBQ Pork Bun with Crust Topping. The crust was crispy and thick. The texture was soft and chewy. They did not skimp out on the filling! 🙂
Next is the Steamed Chinese Doughnut Rice Roll.
The doughnut was a bit too crispy for my liking. It was not soft and chewy nor warm.
The Steamed Prawn Rice Rolls came out next.
Meryl? Sharon? Want to chime in on how this dish and the one below was? lol, I didn’t try either one, so I can’t really comment on it 🙂
We decided to go with the Steamed Shrimp and Scallop Dumplings next.
Heh the next one was the Steamed BBQ Pork Bun.
Do you see in the above picture how there are only TWO buns left in the basket?!?! It’s because MARV was SOOO HUNGRY, that he grabbed one and even DEVOURED it while the rest of the table looked at him and then at me uncomfortably… in silence. He best describes it to me like this, ‘It was instant reflex action to grab and eat the bun while it’s still piping hot since this is my absolute favourite dish at dim sum’ Maybe I should’ve slapped the bun out of his hand! Notice how there’s a bun mark on the top side of the basket? Yea…that was his bun.
We ordered the Garlic Cheese Baked Mussels.
The Steamed Pork & Mushroom Dumpling(siu mai) came next.
The pieces were quite large compared to other dim sum places.
The Shanghainese Steamed Pork Dumplings were next to arrive. I found this to be too dry and the wrapper to be quite thick. Obviously this was by no means authentic or comparable to other Shanghainese restaurants.
The Beef Omasum with Ginger & Green Onion was next.
There was no taste of the ginger or green onion in this dish. Marv thought this was much too soft. This dish was not well liked at the table.
The Steamed Crab Meat & Shrimp Dumplings came next.
Last but not least, the Pan Fried Shrimp & Chive Dumplings.
Marv and I shared 1 of these dumplings. We found the wrap to be too thick and a bit too oily. The crispy fried wrapper was very fragrant. I enjoy that smell haha
And here’s what our table looked like with only a portion of our food left on it!
Overall, this place is pretty reliable in terms of consistency in food quality. There are of course better dim sum places around, but for the convenience of being in a shopping mall, it is a good pick.
We enjoyed our dining company for dim sum today, we’ll be sure to do it up again! 🙂 Marvs already thinking about where to eat next…ok.. just to note.. Marv and Duarte had bubbletea after this huge meal! … Literally right after hahaa. 🙂
Post by Colleen
Deep Fried Taro with Shrimp and Pork Dumplings
I expected the inside to be the normal tongue-scaldingly-hot gooey inside that I’ve come to expect with a lot of dim sum but it was more lukewarm-ish. Not that I’m complaining, because it was my first time eating the dish and thought it was just the perfect amount of flavour and crunch.
Steamed Prawn Rice Rolls
The sweet soy sauce was more soy and less sweet than I’m accustomed to (boo), but the dish itself was far less oily than I’m accustomed to (yay!). It used to be that I would try to eat this dish near to the end of the meal because the amount of oil would ruin my appetite, but at this place, everything’s just right!
Steamed Beef Balls with Bean Curd Sheet
Wow, didn’t realize that Marv liked this dish so much! I would have given the last one to him then, I actually didn’t really want it!
Garlic Cheese Baked Mussels
I expected something closer to motoyaki in terms of flavour and oiliness but was pleasantly surprised with the garlic flavour. The cheese, however, lacked punch and the mussel itself wasn’t as sweet as I like.
Steamed Pork & Mushroom Dumpling(siu mai)
Again: How can you have ha gow without siu mai?? This dish packs respectably sizeable chunks of prawn and mushroom, and the wrapper of the siu mai doesn’t dry out over time unlike other places. The pork is never fatty-tasting nor too sweet. Love!
Steamed Crab Meat & Shrimp Dumplings
I might have been expecting a lot of that unmistakably briny sweet crab flavour from this dish, so it was a little bit of a letdown–you get the texture of shredded crabmeat without a lot of the taste.
Overall I agree–I’m impressed with the consistency of food quality and value (that was a LOT of dishes), and the wait staff are totally on top of refilling the teapot!
Wow, you replied so quickly! 🙂 Thanks for your comments Meryl! Don’t worry about the beef ball, not a big deal lol Good call on going to dim sum! 🙂
Just wanted to confirm receipt on the excellent first paragraph you have written. And I guess I’m just Marv’s friend, eh????? :p
haha Duart! You were mentioned! I just didn’t want to name names when pointing it out lol 🙂 but you weren’t late, you arrived right on time just as the first dish arrived…that in my book is perfect timing lol
WOW!!! You guys did order lots of food…WE LIKE IT!!! LOL!!! Just like us…we love ordering lots…hey…if we cannot finish…we could pack home!!! (Unless the food is really bad…heheheh!)
The shrimp and scallop steamed dumplings looked quite interesting…nicely presented…
haha yeah! I think we’re getting in the habit of ordering lots too!! But instead of packing.. Marv steps up and finishes it all for us lol 🙂
Pictures of the food is mouth watering. You are making me very hungry!!!! Dim sum, anyone?