FIRST POST ON PRIVATE HOME CHINESE [HERE]
Do car sales associates make too much money these days? We had plans to purchase two company cars from Honda and visited a couple of dealerships on the same day (Richmond Honda and Kingsway Honda), but none of the sales associates even acknowledged us! After leaving fairly puzzled, we decided to check out OpenRoad Honda in Burnaby the following day.
The Burnaby location was very convenient for us too because I have been wanting to revisit Private Home for quite some time. And from what I can remember, I declared the xiao long bao and pan fried dumplings as a must order! I also remember the menu being fairly limited and mentioned I would only revisit for lunch rather than dinner.
On a weekday afternoon, the restaurant was empty and the service was non-existent. There are two sides of seating arrangements in the restaurant and all the waitstaff were on the opposite side of us. This made ordering and getting the bill very difficult, despite waving like a crazy person.DRUNKEN CHICKEN ($6.98).
Rating: 1/5.
The chicken does not taste fresh and is very mushy. Usually wine chickens are marinated overnight, but the chicken tastes at least a couple of days old. As for the wine taste, there is a subtle flavour and could have tasted more strong.
PAN FRIED SLICED BEEF IN PANCAKE ($5.98).
Rating: 2/5.
Shanghai style beef noodle wraps are different compared to Taiwanese versions, where the crepe is not a green onion pancake. The crepe (in this case) tastes very soft like a generic tortilla and is not even lukewarm. In addition, the dominate flavour is hoisin, there is more green onion than beef, and the little amount of meat tastes very dry.
STEAMED BUN FILLED WITH PORK SHANGHAI STYLE ($5.98).
Rating: 2.5/5.
The xiao long bao tastes noticeably different than the former visit and not comparable. The buns taste juicy and there is a light wine flavour in the "broth", but the taste from the ginger is missing. Furthermore, the skin is not thin too and has a medium thickness.
As for the pork, the meat is not as smooth as before and tastes "meaty". The recipe seems to have changed and the restaurant uses less fatty pork, but the meat is not gritty one bit. I find the XLBs very average, despite the plentiful amount of juice.
STEAMED STICKY RICE DUMPLING SHANGHAI STYLE ($4.98)
Rating: 3.5/5.
This is my favourite dish from lunch! The sticky rice is cooked perfectly and tastes very soft as well as moist, but neither mushy nor too chewy. As for the wonton skin, it is very thin and tastes soft as well.
Our waitress asked if we wanted these to taste spicy and we said yes, but only two of the dumplings have chilli peppers in them. This is most likely because the rice was not thoroughly mixed, but I like how we were able to sample a couple of "non-spicy" ones. And having tried both, I do prefer the non-spicy ones more so the flavours from the sticky rice stand out.
PAN FRIED PORK DUMPLINGS ($5.98).
Rating: 2.5/5.
Another dish I declared as a must order are the pan fried dumplings and similar to the xiao long bao, the recipe appears to have changed. The dumplings have a crisp bottom as well as throughout the skin, but are dripping with grease. The meat also tastes very dry and not flavourful at all. Even when comparing the photos from the former visit, the meat is not the same.
TOTAL: $31.40 + TIP $ = $35.00.
Our revisit to Private Home Chinese was very disappointing, especially if compared to the first visit. The xiao long bao and pan fried dumplings are noticeably different, and a couple of the dishes are not tasty at all. Fortunately though, the sticky rice dumplings taste great! As for the service, it is pretty ridiculous that we could not wave anyone down especially when we were the only ones in the restaurant! And when the owners are on site.
POSITIVES
- Great sticky rice dumplings (3.5/5)
NEGATIVES
- No service
- Food is inconsistent
- Mushy and old tasting chicken
LITTLE THINGS
- First post on Private Home Chinese [here]
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2/5
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