Late Night Feasting at No. 9 Restaurant, Richmond

This 24 hour joint is a life savior when hungry pangs hit you in the middle of the night. One of my favorite dishes from No. 9 is  Szechuan chicken and fried spinach. I find this dish less oily compared to other fried spinach dishes I tried elsewhere. The combination of spice and the crispy spinach is simply divine. And I always amazed that the spinach always looks so green. Another of my favorite dishes  is their noodles and soup dish - I usually order shui gow. I love the taste of shrimps and pork in a dumpling. Good wholesome goodness. Their fried rice is pretty awesome too - chicken and salty fish.

They also serve combo meals (which offers a range of options including BBQ meat dishes and other cooked food). 99 also offers your typical Hong Kong fare such as  Hong Kong style French toast glazed with honey or peanut butter.

The chicken looks oily - but trust me, this is still a less oilier version compared to other similar dishes. The texture of the chicken was succulent and there was a definite kick to this dish.

The bed of crispy spinach provides a nice contrast to the chicken.

The "more chicken than spinach look" - Yummy!

This bowl of noodles is comfort food to me.

I always prefer the thicker and flat version of noodles.

Fried rice paradise.

Pretty generous serving of ingredients. 99's version of fried rice is not too wet and dry. I like it more than the noodles actually.

Deco: 1/5 - this is a no-fuss food joint . I tend to get paranoid about dropping my scarf on the floor because it looks so grimy
Quality of food: 4/5. I am quite happy with the general quality of the food.
Value for $$: $$$/5. I love the wide range of food offered and the prompt service. Sometimes when the servers are not harassed, they will even joke with you.
Price of food: 3/5 - the food is not exactly cheap for a no-fuss place. For example, the Szechuan chicken costs about CAN$13 and the fried rice CAN$12. But the portions are pretty generous.
Overall Experience: 3.5/5. I generally enjoy the food here. The servers are also prompt in filling up your tea cup. It satiates my late night hunger pangs.

Szechuan Chongqing Seafood Restaurant, West Broadway

 This is a favorite place with my group of friends because you don't have to wait for a table and the service is pretty good for a Chinese restaurant. The servers are pretty well dressed - they have this white and black suit-like attire - I totally approve. Also the deco is pretty pleasing - its' not the top end of Chinese restaurants but at least you can have a private conversation, without fear of inconveniencing the person at the next table. Or without fear of someone eavesdropping on your private life! This restaurant is pretty spacious - spotted a private room.

Caution - I forgot to bring my camera and so the pixs did not turn out looking the way that I wanted. Camera phones are pretty handy but you can't take a good macro shot as the camera lens is way too small. It doesn't help that my hands are pretty shaky so the pixs turn out blurry. Fortunately, someone was there to lend a hand with the photos and save my dining experience. Another point - we did not order your typical Szechuan fare as some friends do not take spicy food.

The Szechuan Chongqing beef fried with spinach had an interesting twist - the spinach was crispy. I like it. This is the less spicy version but if I had to eat it by myself, I will go for the spicy stuff! The beef was well marinated so I enjoyed this dish.



Its a bit oily but I was enamored with  the crispy spinach.

Next is the General Tao's chicken - a personal favorite of a friend of mine. It has a crispy feel to it. It kinda reminded me of sweet and sour pork, minus the gravy. I do like the texture of this chicken.Yummy!


At first glance, the dish looks pretty ordinary but its so yummy. 

The sweet and sour pork is something  I personally would not have ordered myself. But the whole point of dining out is that it should be communal. Everyone should be given a chance to order a dish that they like and to share. I am a BIG fan of sharing food!! Sadly, the sweet and sour pork was a thumbs-down for me. The flour coating on the chicken was too thick and the meat was a tad too hard - they should have made it something along the lines of General Tao's chicken.



I would rate this sweet and sour pork as below average. Gosh - am I harsh??

Oh, and before I forget, we need our carbs. So besides sharing some steamed rice, we had seafood chow mien with gailan. Silly me - I kept on saying green leafy vegetables to the server. The word gailan failed me. Shame on me! Anyway, I do like the fact that they were pretty generous with the seafood. They should have cut the kailan into smaller pieces though. It was really difficult to chew the long stems. Felt like a rabbit or something.



Swimming with seafood and gailan. 

And finally Chinese cookies - with compliments from the restaurant.  Sesame fried dough balls - unhealthy. A strong cup of tea to neutralize the oil helped - I love the tea here and I like the fact that they do fill it up unlike Lin's.



The finale -By then, I was pretty stuffed. 

Overall Experience:

Deco: 3.5-4/5. Pretty comfortable set up, relatively spacious. I understand that the male washroom has ice in their urinal to help in controlling the smell. So, an extra half point for that. I never heard of it before though :)
Quality of food: 3/5. Its average. I would prefer if the food is a little less oily.
Value for $$: $$/5 - its between CAN$18-CAN$20 per head (inclusive of tip). I don't suggest that you go for the buffet dinner which is about CAN$24 per person (minus tax) unless you really can eat a lot. Their lunch dim sum is a better value for $$.
Overall Experience: 3.5/5 - I rate them slightly higher than Lin's because of the better service and they do give you some Chinese cookies. I do miss this particular server. He practically remembers most of his customers but I don't see him anymore.

Lin Chinese Cusine and Tea House, West Broadway & Granville

The award wining Lin's is one of my favorites places when I need my fix for Chinese food and don't want to travel to Richmond. Their set lunch is a pretty reasonable deal - you get a main course, steamed rice and soup for less than CAN$10 (before tax). They are famous for their dumplings and hand-made noodles. One of the things I enjoy in this restaurant is to see the proprietors and their staff making the dumplings and the noodles by hand.

If I have company, I usually order their kung pao chicken or their beef with green onion (which comes in a hot pot). This time around, its time for a change.

The main course is sauteed soy beans and bean curd sheets. I was disappointed with this dish. For CAN$13, I expected better value for my money. But then again, good quality bean curd is expensive in Vancouver. Its pretty plain though. I must say that it was a surprise change to have endamame with bean curd. In most Chinese cuisine, snow peas rule the day.

I am used to eating bean curd sheets in a desert form. Like this barley and bean curd desert with ginko . So, this is a nice change but still CAN$13- heart attack!! That said, I miss ginko nuts - excellent source of brain food.



This dish is not cheap. Maybe, I am cheap. For CAN$13, I rather order a meat dish.

Strangely, the appetizers came after the main course. The customary xiao long pao or what Lin's also refer to Shanghai juicy dumplings. I like it, especially since I know they hand made the dough of the dumplings. This is good stuff!!



For CAN$5 (before tax), you get 6 pieces of xiao long pao. Which is alright.



I love the burst of juices inside the xiao long pao. Should have taken the picture on my spoon instead of a plate. The remaining juices were wasted :(

Finally, its time for desert - 8 treasures sweet rice. This desert is HUGE and looks so pretty. But in terms of taste, I would say that it is average. I guess I had eaten better stuff. But still, I was taken in by the colors and the I like the red bean that goes with the sweet rice.



The desert looks more colorful when you see it rather than on this picture.



Smashing up the desert to ensure a good mix of the toppings and red bean.

Service at Lin's is what you find in most typical Chinese restaurants in Asia. Its brusque and no pleasantries are exchanged. You have to proactively to ask them for refill of Chinese tea etc.

Their Chinese tea is pretty insipid, despite it being left in the teapot for sometime. I wonder why. The teapot is pretty but the thing which irks me the most was that the sprout of the teapot was broken. A big no-no for me.



I should have taken a pix of the broken tea sprout. But I can't stand things that are ascetically not pleasing.

Overall Experience:
Deco: 2/5. The place is clean but I deducted marks because their tea sprout was broken.
Quality of food: 3/5 - I have eaten better Chinese food and I was kinda disappointed with my main course. But I really like their kung pao chicken and beef with spring onions though. I am such a creature of habit!
Value for $$: $$/5 - Lin's is not cheap for what you are getting. Their lunch special is a much better deal though.
Overall experience: 3/5