Top Cantonese Cuisine Restaurant 食為先酒家

DINNER POST AT TOP CANTONESE [HERE]

Top Cantonese is a Chinese restaurant located in Vancouver, on Kingsway Street. I have never been here for dim sum before, however, some of my friends regularly come here for dim sum. On a weekday  morning at 10:30am, the parking lot was full, giving the impression of a possibly busy restaurant.

Walking in, the restaurant was only half full and despite the plenty available tables, we were seated in an empty room at a tiny table. There is only one small table in the entire restaurant, what are chances of getting that one eh? After ordering, we asked the waiter if we could get a larger sized table. Unfortunately, the request was denied by the manager. For those who regularly read my blog, you know how much I always order and that I hate table issues.

STEAMED MINCED BEEF WITH RICE NOODLES ($5.00). 

The rice roll is freshly made and the minced beef tastes tender, definitely one of the better tasting ones.

EGGPLANT WITH FISH PASTE ($5.00). 

Only at a Chinese restaurant will a dish be served with a part of it falling off the plate LOL. The fish paste has a nice crispy exterior and tastes soft with a nice bounce, not overly salty at all. As for the eggplant, it is perfectly cooked, not over or under and tastes refreshing. Despite the generous amount of sauce, the dish tastes bland and too oily. In general, if this type of dish tastes bland, I prefer having it steamed with no sauce for a healthier alternative. 

LOBSTER CONGEE ($13.80). 

The lobster congee is currently a promotion (I think) and has a lower than usual price. The congee is served in a clay pot and tastes smooth, slightly watery as well as bland (unfortunately not the yummy bland white congee creamy taste). Also, the congee has no hint of a lobster taste which is a bit disappointing… I rather have no meat but have a lobster taste. I recommend ordering a different type of congee such as the typical meat with preserved egg which should taste better.

So... the tiny table that I mentioned earlier? This is how small the table was. When we handed our waiter the order sheet, we asked if all the dishes would fit and he said yes, however, the table only fit two dishes. What happened was that the waitress had to hold the rest of the dishes while we ate since there was no table space.

Kidding! Although the waiters/waitresses do hold your dishes in China if there is not enough table space or side tables. Anyway, luckily (and rudely) the manager asked another table to switch with us since they ordered less. If I was at the other table, I would be annoyed having to move after settling down and eating. Plus, the older gentleman was already reading his newspaper! This is a really stupid situation because there was a line up of three waitresses waiting to put the dishes down. If someone is asking more than once if every dish will fit, there has to be a reason. It is the waitstaff and/or manager's job to know how much someone orders. I do wonder what would have happened if all the tables were full. Anyways, pretty much all the dishes came immediately after.

BAKED EGG CUSTARD TARTS ($4.00). 

The egg tarts taste fresh and came straight out the oven which is always a bonus for having dim sum early. The crust tastes flaky as well as buttery, and the nice golden yellow coloured filling tastes smooth, tasty and not overly sweet.

STEAMED RICE ROLLS WITH CHINESE DONUT ($5.00). 

A must order when having dim sum early in the morning is the rice roll with chinese donut, since it is guaranteed to be fresh. Unfortunately though, the donut is from the day before and re-deep fried. Although the rice roll has a thin layer which is nice to highlight the taste of the chinese donut, the donut tastes hard as a rock and very crunchy. The dish is topped with dry shredded pork and has soy sauce on the bottom.

STEAMED SHANGHAI JUICE PORK DUMPLINGS, XIAO LONG BAO ($4.50). 

The XLBs do not taste juicy or flavourful and tastes quite dry. The pork also tastes stiff as well as compressed. As for the skin, it is quite thick and to be honest, even if it was thin, could not save the XLBs. The T&T Supermarket sells a lot better tasting frozen XLBs. Although to be fair, usually the XLBs are not very tasty at most Chinese restaurants during dim sum.

STEAMED PEA TIP DUMPLINGS WITH PRAWN ($4.50).

The skin tastes a bit too thick and very sticky, therefore the dumplings ripped because the skin was stuck together. The pea tips taste fresh as well as refreshing and the prawns have a slight bounce. Despite the unpleasant sticky skin, the filling tastes quite good.

STEAMED ASSORTED MEAT DUMPLINGS ($4.50).

Like the pea tip dumplings, the skin also tastes thick as well as sticky. Also, the filling has no meat and only consists of peanut and vegetable. Were we given the wrong one? Probably. The dumplings taste crunchy from the peanut which is a bonus for those who prefer some crunchiness.

CLAMS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE ($?). 

The black bean sauce tastes light, not overly salty or greasy. However, the clams have an odd funky seafood taste and tastes very unpleasant, not fresh.

STEAMED CHICKEN FEET WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE ($3.50). 

The black bean sauce has a pleasant spicy taste from the jalapeños which is rare for me to experience and I like it. The chicken feet does not taste dry and are quite tasty.

STEAMED BUN WITH GOLDEN CUSTARD ($4.00). 

The steamed bun tastes soft, pillowy and tasty. For the filling, the custard tastes slightly sweet and has a perfect gooeyness as well as a smooth consistency. However, the filling was not properly mixed and has chunks of powder which did not taste very good.

STEAMED SPARERIBS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE ($4.00). 

The black bean sauce tastes very light as well as flavourful and not too salty. Although the spareribs do not taste overly chewy and could have tasted more tender.

DUMPLING WITH SHARK'S FIN IN SUPREME SOUP ($6.80).

The shark's fin has not been cooked long enough and tastes chewy as well as crunchy. As for the soup, the broth tastes like watered down MSG (I rarely ever mention MSG and am not against it, although some people are), unpleasant and has no hint of a chicken broth taste. This is one of the worst dumpling soups I ever had.

Despite the unpleasant MSG tasting soup, the dumpling is huge and packed with ingredients such as chinese mushroom, yee mein noodle (kind of weird eh?), carrot, minced pork and shredded imitation crab. However, the dumpling does not taste very good and can be passed.

POSITIVES

- Dinner tastes better than dim sum

- One of the better dim sum restaurants on Kingsway Street

NEGATIVES

- Below average and average dishes

- Clams were not fresh

- Table situation is one of the dumbest things that can happen

- No service or hard to get like most restaurants during dim sum

LITTLE THINGS 

- We left around 11:30am and there was a line up, I recommend reservations
- Dinner post on Top Cantonese [here]

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 0/5