BBQ DUCK 24/7! No. 9 Restaurant, Richmond

This big ol’ bowl of BBQ Duck on Rice is the only reason I go to No. 9 Restaurant, located in Lansdowne Mall, Richmond.



The restaurant in open 24 hours, every day of the week.  I know that if I ever have a craving for BBQ Duck, that I could fill up here!

The BBQ Duck is served with plum sauce and a small bowl (not a little soy sauce bowl) full of the duck gravy.  It’s like the soy-based duck juices all combined and you pour it all over your rice.  OMG.  No. 9 is the only restaurant I know that gives you a whole bowl full to go with your order of rice.   

This is the only BBQ Duck on Rice that I crave for.  The duck isn’t all bones and skin.  You get actual chunks of meat.  The skin isn’t riddled with feathers as someone took the care to prepare it properly.  It’s crispy on the outside and tender, succulent inside.                        Rating:  6/6


Pork Balls in Noodle Soup.  Rating:  4/6

We rarely ever order any dish here (other than the BBQ Duck) that overwhelmingly impresses us.  The food is filling and the portions are pretty big. However, you also pay a higher price for the bigger portions.
The best deal is still the BBQ Duck on Rice. 


Choy Sum.  Oyster sauce is served on the side.  Rating:  4/6


Congee with fish slices.  Rating:  4/6

If you're going to come here, order the BBQ Duck on rice.  If you like Chinese soups, order the soup of the day.  They give you a heaping big pile of stuff that they fish out of the soup and serve alongside the soup along with a soy dip for all the soup bones.  It's a meal in itself.  Their food is consistently average.  Nothing fancy, but satisfactory.

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GOOD CHOICE FOR DIM SUM

Spicy Pan Fried Radish Cake. 


Having had a great dining experience the last time we ate at Good Choice, we gave it a go for Dim Sum today.

The pan fried radish cake had just the right amount of heat.  It had fresh chilies, fresh bean sprouts and the cubes of radish cake held well with a light crispy exterior and soft interior.   Rating:  6/6

Scallions and Pork Neck in Soy sauce. 

By far, my favourite dish of the whole lunch!  It was so good!   The meat was a little springy, very tender and not fatty at all.  I loved the abundance of scallion.  Very savoury and I would definitely order it again.  Rating:  6/6

Black bean sauce clams. 

This dish was okay.  I liked the portion size.  The sauce was on the watery side and I don’t like like it so “wet”.  I liked a drier version myself.  Rating:  4/6

Har Gow.

Stomach is the har gow expert.  He liked it very much.  The skin was pretty good and the shrimp inside flavourful.  Rating:  5/6

Lotus Leaf Sticky Rice.

The filling of the sticky rice consisted of pork, Chinese sausage and a piece of salted duck egg yolk.  This is the kids’ favourite and Bebe ate a whole one on her own (after flicking they yolk on to Stomach’s dish).    Rating:  5/6

Green Onion Pancake.

This version  is fried.  Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But it is definitely not as flaky done this way in my opinion.  Rating:  4/6

Black Bean Sauce Spareribs.

Juicy, plump, tender morsels or pork ribs and just the right amount of black beans…and seasoned just right.  This dish was good.  Rating: 5.5/6

The clear disappointment of the whole meal was the Singapore Fried Rice Vermicelli.  Though it looks pretty enough, the noodles were hard (not soaked long enough) and needed flavour. 

Though this dish had plump shrimp, I was disappointed with the insipid flavour.  There was no heat and not enough "wok hei” or caramelizing going on.  If it had more heat, more curry flavour or more meat/shrimp and scallion, it would have been saved.  I took the whole dish home and fixed it by adding curry powder and cooking it until the noodles softened more.

Deep Fried Meat-stuffed Dumplings.

This dish was good and had plenty of meat filling.  The exteriors were crisp and the dough was nice and chewy just like it’s supposed to be.  Rating:  5/6

Coconut Pudding .

Really, it’s more like a hard jello.  Anyhow, what’s a meal without dessert?  This coconut pudding was nicely set and tasted cool, milky and refreshing.

Just click on the menus to see the Dim Sum menu up close.   

Good Choice was actually very good for Dim Sum.  I was happy and would come back again.  I just wouldn't order the noodles dishes now that I know that the Singapore Rice Vermicelli was a flop.  The regular items on the dim sum menu were all really good though and I'd like to order some other ones to see how they are too.  There are some interesting items on the menu that are more innovative than the regular Dim Sum fare.

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Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant

Fish Head Hot Pot


After a visit to the PNE, we cruised the neighbourhood for dinner.  Venice Garden Seafood is located in a plaza shared with T and T Supermarket and it there was plenty of parking in the lot.

It’s been a while since we’ve eaten in the area and this restaurant seems to be a reincarnation of a previous restaurant that we visited once.  It seems to have gone a tad upscale since we last ate here.  There were white tablecloths during dinner.



My mother’s fave dish is Fish Head Hot Pot.  I had a piece of fish and thought it was kind of fishy.  The pieces were mostly skin and bones and were deep fried first before combined into the hotpot.  This dish seemed to be okay with mom.  I however, didn’t enjoy it. 

Complimentary Turnip & Carrot Soup


We opted for a menu combination that included a complimentary soup, rice and dessert.  These clear soups are my kids’ favourite types of soup.  This one was very good and had a rich flavour.

Silky Eggs and Prawns


The Silky Eggs and Prawns were cooked quite nicely; however I thought the eggs were insufficiently seasoned.   It was my favourite dish of the whole dinner.  Rating:  4.5/6

Tofu Hot Pot


The Tofu Hot Pot was okay.  I thought it tasted like the Fish Head Hot Pot in that it had the same sauce.   Rating:  3.5/6

Beef and Bok Choy


The Beef and Bok Choy was okay.   The beef was plentiful and tender.  Rating:  4/6

Spicy Green Beans


The Spicy Green Beans unfortunately were ruined by my mother who asked for the dish to be not so spicy.  The cook interpreted this to mean no spice at all.  This pretty much made the dish flavourless.   Rating:  3.5/6

Green Bean and Tapioca Dessert Soup


Complimentary sweet soup was meh.  I haven’t had too many versions in my life that were good enough to have me want to pay for it.   Rating:  3/6

Overall, the meal was economical.  We took home plenty of leftovers.  Eating in the East Side definitely is cheaper it seems.  The flavours at Venice Garden are not as delicate and refined as some Cantonese restaurants.  However, the portions are large and there are combo meal deals to be had. 

The restaurant menu options include congee, noodles and Cantonese fare.  The service was not so attentive.  The premises in the eating area were relatively clean though.   I don’t know if I’d come back again as some dishes were misses.   I wish the dishes were more consistently good and seasoned better.

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THE BEST CURRIED BEEF BRISKET IN VANCOUVER

Curry Beef Brisket.

I’m sticking my neck out here on this one.  I do think this is the best Curried Beef Brisket in Metro.    Rating:  6/6


All around the restaurant, patrons have this dish on their table.  You have to try it to believe me.  The curry has a coconut milk base and is not particularly hot and spicy.  It has just enough kick to keep you piling on the rice.  I can eat a whole bucket of rice if I had enough of this curry sauce.   I love how the potatoes soak up all the curry sauce too.  The brisket is surprisingly tender but it doesn’t dissolve into tiny mushy shreds.  It holds together quite well but is still moist and soft. 

The combo meal features a complimentary soup (above), rice and free dessert (red bean soup…ick!)  I didn’t touch my red bean soup, but imagine it tastes like red bean soup.  I have found that in general, soups are not very photogenic. You agree?

This sorry looking sandwich is what Bib wanted to order.  It’s ham between two slices of toast.  That’s it. $3.00 I think.

I can’t wait until my daughters stop wanting to order sandwiches every time we go out to a restaurant to eat.
 

Roti with curry sauce dip.  Rating:  5/6

Deep Fried Chicken Wings.  Surprisingly, these were exceptionally good.  The coating was a light and crispy batter similar to the one at Phnom Pehn.  Rating:  6/6

Choy sum and Fish Slices.  Rating:  5.5/6

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KAM GOK YUEN BBQ…AN INSTITUTION

More pork fat love, but this BBQ Pork (cha siu) is WAY better than any I’ve had from other Chinese BBQ joints. 

Hey Chinatown newbie, let me give you some advice…

When you enter a Chinatown institution like Kam Gok Yuen, with its yellowed linoleum floors and hole-in-the-wall booths, you remember a few things, ya hear?

1. Take out.  Do not eat in.


2. Make yourself prominent to the bbq master…the guy with the white paper hat, fat-smeared white apron and greasy hands.  And oh yeah.  He’ll be holding a huge, sharp cleaver.


3. He’ll nod at you.  Don’t expect chit-chat and niceties.  Make eye-contact (you can smile if you want.  I do) and point to what you want as well as verbally indicating what you would like.  If you know some Chinese, toss that in there.  If you speak English, he’ll understand.  


4. “Cha Siu”, you’ll say; pointing to the glossy red long hunks of barbequed meats resting in the vat of honeyed bbq sauce in the fat-spattered window display.


5. He’ll ask you which piece or how fatty you’d like it.  Say “Buan Fei Sau” (half fat half lean), which will give you a juicy fatty chunk of Cha Siu.  He’ll size you up anyway and give you what he thinks you’ll like.  He’s been around.  He knows the ones who hate pork fat.  If you’re into lean, he’ll give you lean (“sau”, if you need to emphasize it)


6. He’ll ask if you’d like it chopped.  Say “yes”, because it’s way easier than doing it yourself.  Besides, you’ll want to eat it right away when you’re out the door anyway!


7. He’ll do his thing and chop it while the lady next to him will collect the money.  She’ll package it in a bag and dispense sauces and whatnot if necessary too.  Cha Siu is sold by the pound.

My box has 3 pieces of bbq pork chopped up.  One is lean (for Bebe) and the other two pieces are 50/50.  The kiddies already tucked into the box of cha siu before I took the pic because it’s SO GOOD warm and fresh.  They ate about one whole piece altogether.

If perchance you’d like to taste THE BEST SOY SAUCE CHICKEN in Metro Vancouver, you will order some here.  I’m sticking my neck out about this one saying that, but I have yet to taste any better and I’ve had a lot of soy sauce chicken.  This one is so silky tender.  The meat is juicy and there is nary a bit o’ fat between the skin and meat.  A good thing.  I purchased a half a chicken (they sell by whole or halves) and it comes with two condiments:  a sweetish soy dip and scallion/ginger dip.

Ordering your Soy Sauce Chicken requires much more with-it-ness than Cha Siu.

1. DO NOT GET DISTRACTED.  KEEP YOUR EYES ON HIM AND YOUR CHICKEN AT ALL TIMES!  These wise words were said to me by my mother as I casually walked out the door indicating that I was picking up chicken at Kam Gok Yuen.  My hubby echoed her later when he found out I had gone there for Soy Sauce Chicken, “I hope you watched him”.


2. The cash lady may require you to pay possibly at the same time the bbq master is cutting that chicken.  Keep your wits about you!  Watch that chicken and deal with your money and the lady at the same time if you can.  I like to maintain eye contact on that bird before I even look at the lady.  She can wait I figure.


3. You’ll get that awesome ginger/scallion sauce when you order Soy Sauce Chicken. Eat the chicken with white rice and pour some of that soy over your rice. Dip the chicken in the ginger/scallion sauce.

This is why you need to watch your poultry being cut at Kam Gok Yuen…and I guess possibly at other BBQ stores that have a restaurant.  The BBQ section is in the front but there is also a restaurant dining section at the back.  The restaurant patrons can order bbq items on rice.  Guess where they get the bbq from?  Well, apparently a piece of leg from each customer can add up and so the theory goes…

In the past, my mother and Stomach have both opened up their styrofoam containers at one point in their lives to discover the chicken looking a tad smaller than they remember.   You can be missing a part of a leg if you order a whole cut chicken.  It’s more noticeable to miss a piece if you buy a half I think.  When it’s extremely busy, and the customer is not watching, it is rumoured that the bbq master will snatch one piece from the leg and set it aside for those bbq rice dishes.  Pretty sneaky.  It all happens very quickly because he’s so fast with his cleaver.  You’ve got to watch him chop it up.  After a few of these little pieces, he’s accumulated enough for a rice bowl.  This only occurs with the chicken or duck I think because it’s sold by the whole or half.

This did not happen to me.  I always watch intently anyway because I’m fascinated by his knife skills.  He cut up the chicken deftly and even plopped in the neck part and every bit of wing tip.   My mother and I love the little wing tip.  It’s coveted and gnaw-worthy but I always give it to her anyway.  Filial piety, you know. 

One of the features of a good Soy Sauce Chicken is the meat’s tenderness throughout—particularly including the white meat.  A problem with some BBQ shops is that after the meat is cut, you will see that the meat near the bone is pink and a bit bloody.  This is not a good thing in my book.  At Kam Gok Yuen, the meat is cooked but as you can see, the bone marrow indicates that it is just right.  The cooking time was impeccable.  There’s no bright red chicken blood oozing from the bone marrow.  See?

Moreover, the white meat is tender, succulent and juicy.  The soy flavour is special.  It’s slightly sweet.  They’re using a very tasty master soy sauce recipe.

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BAAK TONG GOH FROM NEW TOWN BAKERY

Lookit those great bubbles!

New Town Bakery’s White Sugar Rice Steamed Rice Cake (baak tong goh) are good.  They don’t have that overly-yeasted/fermented taste.  They are soft and white and kids love them. 

Making these yourself is possible, but buying a few pieces is so much more convenient because there’s no long wait for the fermentation of the yeast and rice batter.  Besides, the best recipe I have calls for grinding your own raw rice in a blender and that is a noisy endeavour.  The versions made from rice flour don’t taste very good to me at all. 

There are other good versions of Baak Tong Goh in bakeries, but New Town’s is good PLUS you can buy those excellent Big Steamed Buns and little round sugar-crusted Apple Tarts while you’re there…which no one else has.

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BBQ MASTER, RICHMOND: PORK FAT LOVE

I must confess that I am guilty of not cutting off the fat of this bbq pork.  I ate it.

Ate it all, you hear?

Bebe, meanwhile, carefully carved out her fatty pieces and left them on the side of her plate…to be picked off one by one and eaten by her little 4 year old sister, Bib.

Just like in that old Nursery Rhyme, in our household, there are the Jack Spratts and his fat-loving wife.  Bib and I are the latter.  Stomach and Bebe are the former.

I don’t eat gristle or just any old pork fat.  It is best rendered well for me to eat it.  A caramelized crust is much desirable.  I don’t eat the fat from beef or chicken or duck. 

Pork fat though.

Hooooo.  It’s different.

See those crunchy crackling skin pieces?  That’s mine!  In this case I will cut off the layer of fat if it is more than 3 mm.  Or if it isn’t translucent.  I hate cold pork fat.  That’s just lard.

Barbeque Master is located in the underground parkade area of Superstore in Richmond.  You can access it from the street too, though I think we never have.

It’s hopping busy always and the bbq master at this shop has received rave reviews for his bbq meats.  Some people claim that he’s got the best Chinese bbq in Metro.  My MIL thinks the guy at Parker Place rocks, but I think Parker Place BBQ Meats’ BBQ Pork (Siu Yook) is too salty.   I do love how he serves it with a soy dip.  Really yummy.  Salt overload!  But really good with rice I guess.  Both BBQ shops are very good and very busy.  There's a lineup for both and they sell out of some items very quickly.

I didn’t get my way today because Stomach didn’t order BBQ Duck.  Instead, he likes Siu Yook and my kids love Cha Siu.  The girls like BBQ duck, too, but I think they like Cha Siu better.  They ate a half the container for dinner all by themselves before I got to it.

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