Fortune House 福聯
Fortune House is always packed for dim sum because it's conveniently located in Metrotown mall. Even on a Tuesday morning, the wait was estimated to be around half an hour for walk-in. Luckily we got a table after 15 minutes and we quickly decided on the dim sum. By the way, the dim sum sheet is in Chinese and I'm not sure whether there's an English version. But I'm sure there are English names in the official menu. The prices are pretty expensive:
small - $3.25
medium - $4.25
large - $5.25
special - $5.75
chef - $7.50
Even though the prices are up there, I think the portions make up for it. Compared to Kirin, the dim sum here are quite a bit larger.
Note: Ask about VIP membership options. I bought a VIP card for $10 and it's valid for a year. Benefits include 10% off regular dim sum, no tea charge, and a $4.25 gift card.
The first dish to arrive was the spicy stewed beef tendons (川味牛蹄筋) ($5.25). The tendons were incredibly soft and tender, and very well-marinated with an abundance of sauce. There was just a little bit of spice, which brought out the savouriness quite well.
I almost always order the 5-grain glutinous rice ball (五穀糯米飽) ($4.25) if it's available, so I was glad it was on the menu. The rice ball was a lot bigger than I had expected with a very thin wrapper and lots of stuffing. I had trouble finding 5 types of grain inside though. Most of it was just glutinous rice, so it tasted a bit blander than I would've liked, but I still enjoyed the chewy grains in the soy wrap.
As usual, the dessert arrived in the middle of the meal. The sweet taro buns (荔浦香芋飽) ($4.25) were decent, but I found the buns a bit too airy. It seemed like there was too much water in the dough, so the texture was not firm and dense enough. The filling was a mild taro paste with a very subtle sweetness.
I enjoyed the thinly wrapped watercress dumplings in soup with goji berries (杞子西菜湯餃) ($5.25). The filling was made of meat and shrimp, as well as refreshing watercress and crunchy wood ear mushrooms. The best part of the dish was the generous amount of goji berries in the soup. They were quite sweet and tasty, and according to the theories of Chinese medicine, goji berries are good for the eyes.
The pea shoots and shredded chicken rice roll (豆苗雞絲腸粉) ($5.25) was the most average dish of all. The rice roll was bland and the soy sauce was bland. Even the chicken was tasteless and unmarinated, not to mention it was in huge chunks instead of shreds like the name said.
I was quite happy with the dim sum we ordered. I thought the food was on par with the better dim sum restaurants in Vancouver, and prices were not so bad with the VIP discount. Now that I have a membership card, I'm sure I'll be coming here more often.
small - $3.25
medium - $4.25
large - $5.25
special - $5.75
chef - $7.50
Even though the prices are up there, I think the portions make up for it. Compared to Kirin, the dim sum here are quite a bit larger.
Note: Ask about VIP membership options. I bought a VIP card for $10 and it's valid for a year. Benefits include 10% off regular dim sum, no tea charge, and a $4.25 gift card.
The first dish to arrive was the spicy stewed beef tendons (川味牛蹄筋) ($5.25). The tendons were incredibly soft and tender, and very well-marinated with an abundance of sauce. There was just a little bit of spice, which brought out the savouriness quite well.
I almost always order the 5-grain glutinous rice ball (五穀糯米飽) ($4.25) if it's available, so I was glad it was on the menu. The rice ball was a lot bigger than I had expected with a very thin wrapper and lots of stuffing. I had trouble finding 5 types of grain inside though. Most of it was just glutinous rice, so it tasted a bit blander than I would've liked, but I still enjoyed the chewy grains in the soy wrap.
As usual, the dessert arrived in the middle of the meal. The sweet taro buns (荔浦香芋飽) ($4.25) were decent, but I found the buns a bit too airy. It seemed like there was too much water in the dough, so the texture was not firm and dense enough. The filling was a mild taro paste with a very subtle sweetness.
I enjoyed the thinly wrapped watercress dumplings in soup with goji berries (杞子西菜湯餃) ($5.25). The filling was made of meat and shrimp, as well as refreshing watercress and crunchy wood ear mushrooms. The best part of the dish was the generous amount of goji berries in the soup. They were quite sweet and tasty, and according to the theories of Chinese medicine, goji berries are good for the eyes.
The pea shoots and shredded chicken rice roll (豆苗雞絲腸粉) ($5.25) was the most average dish of all. The rice roll was bland and the soy sauce was bland. Even the chicken was tasteless and unmarinated, not to mention it was in huge chunks instead of shreds like the name said.
I was quite happy with the dim sum we ordered. I thought the food was on par with the better dim sum restaurants in Vancouver, and prices were not so bad with the VIP discount. Now that I have a membership card, I'm sure I'll be coming here more often.
I've never heard of the glutinous rice balls before, is it savory with like eggs yolk in it or something?
ReplyDelete@Janice: It's not super common. There's a picture of the inside! It's just 5 different grains wrapped in soy paper. It's supposed to be somewhat savoury, but this one was slightly bland because there was too much glutinous rice.
ReplyDeletegoji berries was touted as a "superfood/berry" a few years back! Supposedly full of antioxidants.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, the whole goji berry/acai berry/blueberry/pomegranate seed fad has died down a little now hasn't it...? Or am I just disconnected from the super pro-health, super conscious world?
They do have an English ordering sheet - you just have to ask them for it... only problem is the translation doesn't always come out properly.
ReplyDeleteWe usually go right when they open to avoid the lineups.
@pyaria: Goji berries have always been a very common food in Chinese culture. I think it's just one of those things that the Western society picks up and puts into everything from chocolates to drinks. I'm not sure if it's still the fad right now. I really have no idea about the trends of the pro-health world :P
ReplyDelete@pennyandrusty: Thanks for the tip! A lot of times the dim sum names in Chinese are not made up properly either. Ahhh the art of making up names...