It was our last day in Vancouver and we definitely needed dim sum to finish off the trip. We stayed at Grand Park Hotel which gave us a good birds-eye view of Yue Restaurant just across the street. Our plan was to walk over right when they opened at 10am, so we would have enough time to eat before checking out of the hotel at noon. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Since it was the long weekend, the restaurant was fully booked and unless you had a reservation, they were turning away loads of people at the door.
So plan B, we decided to check out early and have dim sum at Tin Tin Seafood Harbour, one of my parents' go-to restaurants in Richmond. There was a short wait before we were seated at a comically large table.
We ordered a lot of the classics, including my favourite steamed shrimp dumplings ($9.89).
My sister's favourite steamed shrimp rice roll ($10.89) and the deep fried taro dumplings ($9.89). The taro dumplings had a mild curry flavour to the filling.
The pan-fried diced radish cake with XO sauce ($12.89) was good although there was lots of bean sprouts for filler. Also the obligatory steamed chicken feet with taro ($9.89).
Can't forget the steamed sui mai dumplings ($9.89). Also the dish on the right, deep fried shrimp ball with egg and preserved egg ($9.89) was a total surprise when it hit the table. Somehow in my head, I imagined a shrimp ball with a salted duck egg filling that oozed out like lava. But apparently my reading comprehension is not what it used to be since the menu title described exactly what the dish was. Half a boiled egg and half a preserved egg held together in a crispy shrimp ball. A strange combo that I probably wouldn't order again.
After dim sum, we hit up Richmond Centre to do some browsing and shopping.
I wish Token opened a store in Edmonton! But maybe not. I'm an adult that shouldn't be spending more money on toys (I tell myself over and over again).
Our next stop was the Arbutus location of mello. It's a super popular bakery that specializes in filled brioche doughnuts. I've been meaning to try mello forever and I'm happy to report that it lives up to the hype!
We ordered three to share, although I would've loved to buy the whole store. Darn luggage space. We tried the injeolmi, strawberries & cream, and cereal milk cream ($5.50 each).
The injeolmi was a limited time flavour during Lunar New Year. Injeolmi is a traditional Korean rice cake coated in roasted soybean powder. I loved this flavour and wish that it could be a permanent menu item! The cream filling was super nutty and and not too sweet. The doughnut itself was super fluffy and soft. It takes about 2 days to make their dough and the result is well worth it.
The strawberries and cream was also delicious, but I didn't love the cereal milk cream. The flavour was good but I thought the crunchy cereal coating detracted from the soft dough.
For dinner, we also tried a much-anticipated (for me) restaurant that has become such a Vancouver staple. Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba has 9 locations across Vancouver and surrounding area. They specialize in mazesoba, a Japanese noodle dish. Noodles are coated in a savoury rich sauce and topped with a bevy of ingredients that you're meant to mix together before eating.
We got the niku mazesoba ($16.50) which came with slow-braised pork chashu, minced meat (pork and beef), runny egg yolk, minced garlic, sesame, green onion, seaweed flakes, grinded saba fish, chives, and multigrain noodles made in house. You can also choose between three sizes (regular, XL or XXL) which corresponds to the amount of noodles at no extra charge. Since we were sharing, we got the XL which was pretty loaded. The noodles were springy and the sauce was umami-packed. The flavour was quite intense and it did get a bit cloying near the end. To combat this, they do have bottles of vinegar on the table to help cut the salt and greasiness.
My mom had the tamago ramen ($15.99) which had thin ramen noodles in a pork bone broth, slow-braised pork chashu, soft boiled egg, and green onion. The chashu was super tender and the broth was creamy yet light. Not my favourite bowl of ramen in Vancouver but it's decent.
Obligatory stop at the McArthurGlen outlet. Not my favourite selection of stores but a great way to kill time if you have a layover in Vancouver.
Home time!
I don't know why it took me this long to finish this blog series, considering this trip took place back in February. *cough*procrastination*cough* but I hope you enjoyed. Until the next trip!
- CT
