Canton & Zhejiang Cuisine

There are quite a few variations of Chinese food and Zhejiang cuisine is one of them, which I do not often see in Vancouver. The cuisine focuses on enhancing the natural flavours and serving light but flavourful dishes, which brings me to Canton & Zhejiang, a new addition to Capston Way Plaza in Richmond. A few popular Zhejiang dishes are beggar's chicken, dragon well tea shrimp, dongpo pork which is served at many Chinese restaurants, and west lake vinegar fish.

Walking in on a weekday at 6:00pm, we were immediately asked for our reservation time. Err… on a weekday? Apparently the restaurant gets busy and reservations are always recommended if not required. The restaurant looks clean as well as simple, and the seating arrangements are not too cramped. 

DAILY SOUP, CHICKEN AND HAIRY MELON ($10.95).

Starting with a soup, we went for our preferred choice which is usually a daily soup. The daily soup tastes light as well as clear, and the chicken broth is quite rich.

2 1/4LB SPICY GARLIC AND ONION HONG KONG STYLE ($13.80/LB).

Due to the high demand at higher end restaurants in China for Dungeness crab, the prices are double compared to the previous years ($22.00/lb!). Fortunately, the restaurant was offering a promotion at a reasonable $13.80/lb. The catch? None, asides that the largest crab was only 2 1/4lb.  As for the crab, the seasoning is quite tasty as well as unique. There are plenty of fried garlic, onion, red chilli, green onion, black pepper and jalapeño. The crab tastes crisp, tasty and flavourful, with no hint of spiciness. Furthermore despite the overwhelming appearance, the crab does not taste salty or heavy on the oil. Bonus.

2 1/2LB CREAM AND BUTTER SAUCE LOBSTER ($16.80/LB).

Rather than a generic flavourful cream and butter sauce, the restaurant has a milkier and creamier version. The sauce tastes flavourful in a different way and the replacement of the usual butteriness for a milkiness, works. In addition, the sauce has a nice consistency and is not too watery, nor are there any lumps. As for the lobster, the meat tastes bouncy and not overcooked.

WHITE CARROT, BEEF BRISKET AND TENDON HOT POT ($13.95).

Although the brisket and tendon tastes tender, there is not much taste. The hot pot tastes generic, very watery and is nothing special. As for the daikon, the slices could have been thicker but does taste soft.

BOWL OF STEAMED RICE ($1.50).

CHINESE TEA FLAVOURED SHRIMP ($15.95).

This is a popular Zhejiang dish which is also known as dragon well tea shrimp. Unfortunately though, the shrimp tastes bland, gooey, slimy and unappetizing. The dish lacks that nice pan fried taste and tastes like what one would get at a small town, like a quick simple stir fry. Furthermore, I hate how the restaurant used frozen shelled shrimp, rather than frozen shell-on shrimp and remove the shell themselves. The reason is because when cooking frozen shelled shrimp, it is not just the corn starch which creates that sliminess and gooeyness, it is the shrimp itself.

In addition, frozen shelled shrimp is never used as a primary ingredient unless it is cooked differently, such as deep fried. Although even most Chinese restaurants deep fry prawns instead of shrimp… Furthermore, previously frozen shelled shrimp is tricky to cook because the wok needs to be hot and if the heat is not high enough, there is an unappetizing gooeyness which is the case here. Also, this type of shrimp is only good as a secondary ingredient like in fried rice, scrambled eggs (even most Chinese restaurants use prawns in scrambled eggs!) and hot n' sour soup. Never as a prime ingredient. This is definitely overpriced for what it is.

COMPLIMENTARY RED BEAN JELLO.

The dessert has more of a paste texture than jello, and tastes slightly sweet. There is also a fair amount of red bean.

TOTAL: $123.25 + TIP $16.75 = $145.00.

Overall we tipped 13% because there was no service. However, thinking back, I wish we tipped more because our waiter who was the only one at the front of the house, was friendly and running around sweating. Not only that, but he was sincere and even said goodbye (sometimes I wish we could just tip a certain staff!). Although the reason for not tipping more is because our dinner was very uncomfortable due to the lack of table space. If a table of two orders an amount of food for three or four, a fair table size should be provided! As for the food, it started off good with the soup and two seafood dishes. But, it went downhill from there.

POSITIVES

- Clean interior

- Friendly waiter

- Crab and lobster tastes above average (3/5)

NEGATIVES

- Not very friendly owners

- Shrimp is pretty disappointing 

- Typical not every dish fits on the table and we could not eat comfortably, despite juggling and combining plates situation

LITTLE THINGS

- Two separate menus are available, one in Chinese and the other in English

- Reservations are recommended

Food: 2.5/5 (prawns 1/5, seafood 3/5)

Service: 2.5/5