Golden House Seafood Restaurant 福陞海鮮酒家

Looking for a restaurant on Fraser Street, Golden House Seafood it was. When entering, I noticed a photocopy of an article from the Asian Pacific Post that stated the chef's experience as a cook in Hong Kong, at the Hyatt Hotel. Golden House Seafood is a small family owned mom and pop operation, with the husband at the back of the house and wife at the front. 

The restaurant is very small and only has eight tables. Furthermore, the seating arrangements are very comfortable, spacious and another table could have been squeezed in, but they chose not to. I really appreciate restaurants that do not cram in extra tables. 

Walking in, we were greeted by the owner's wife within less than one minute and she even apologized for our "wait" because when we walked in, another man was leaving and she only heard the door open once. Wow eh? At a Chinese restaurant? Friendly owners are hard to come by sometimes. Since we arrived for a late evening dinner around 9:00pm, roasted peanuts were provided.

DOUBLE BOILED HOUSE SOUP OF THE DAY, WINTER MELON SOUP ($16.80).

The soup has a clear, rich and flavourful chicken as well as pork broth. As for the ingredients, there is a bit of dried logan and one big slice of winter melon.

2 1/2LB CREAM AND BUTTER SAUCE CRAB ($13.80/LB).

This is one of the best cream and butter sauces that I have ever had. Not "one of the better ones", but "one of the best". The sauce has an extremely rich creamy and buttery taste along with a hint of ginger and green onion. Furthermore, although the sauce does not taste like the typical generic properly made cream and butter sauce, it tastes so much more flavourful and not overwhelming. As for the crab, it is lightly battered, the meat tastes fresh and delicious with the generous amount of sauce.

GEODUCK AND SEA CUCUMBER WITH VEGETABLES ($28.80)

The slices of geoduck taste slightly overcooked and chewy; however, the dish overall is still very tasty. In addition, rather than only having a sautéed flavour, there is a delicious house broth added. As for the sea cucumber, the slices are really tasty and should generally be the highlight as well as the geoduck. But, the vegetables taste equally as good. The slices of celery and zucchini have a slight crunch and are pretty flavourful with house broth. Honestly, I rarely eat the vegetables in this type of dish but I ate every last one!

SPARERIBS AND CHESTNUT HOT POT ($18.80).

The chestnuts taste freshly roasted rather than pre-cooked, and the spareribs taste tender as well as flavourful. The sauce has a light house broth flavour and does not taste overly salty or oily. This is one of the very few times when I could eat the whole hot pot because it tastes delicious, without the greasiness or saltiness.

COMPLIMENTARY PAPAYA SWEET SOUP.

The pieces of papaya are large as well as tasty, and the soup has a light ginger syrupy taste. Usually this kind of dessert should be cooked longer but the owner made these from scratch for us, after closing. What other restaurant do you know that would do this?!

POSITIVES
- Extremely friendly owners, people who care
- Above average eats and properly executed dishes
- One of the better Chinese restaurants

NEGATIVES
- Small restaurant

LITTLE THINGS
- Yup, gotta come back
- The bill costed roughly the same as the dinner we had the night before at Taste Good Wonton Seafood, but the food tastes a lot better here and the owners are friendly
- I would not be surprised if there are line ups during busy times

Food: 4/5

Service: 4/5