The last time my friend Jeannie and I had dim sum we were so utterly disappointed. Ever since then I have not been able to meet that craving. So the last time we were in Richmond she made reservations for Yue, knowing they were good, as she has been before.
It looked like most Chinese seafood restaurants offering daily dim sum. They had a banquet style dining room that included table cloths, ornate chandeliers, carpeted floor, blinds drawn shut, and even a large flat screen broadcasting the latest World Cup match up.
Ordering is done with check boxes and a golf pencil on their photographic menu. We started with chrysanthemum tea. The batch was kept hot via the porcelain pot’s perch on top of a wood and metal stand, hosting a single tea light. I found this innovation point ingenious.
For dishes we both made our choices toggling back and forth between familiar classics and new items we were curious of. In hindsight there is a reason why I always get the same dishes whenever I go to any dim sum… they never disappoint.
The Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp and Crab Roe is a must at any dim sum for Jeannie. They are her favourite and was exactly as expected and what she craved for. I found the flavour one toned so had mine with chilli. I got both the oil with flakes and the sauce with a creaminess to add variety to the bite.
A must for me was the Steamed Beef Tripe with Satay Sauce. Dim sum is the only place that I get and like the taste and texture of tripe. It was saucy and chewy with a slightly gummy texture. It absolutely delivered on my expectations.
My wild card choice was the Steamed Bean Curd Sheet with Pork and Shrimp in Oyster Sauce. I saw the photo and imagined chewing through the bean curd sheets and wanted that for my mouth. For that I was satisfied. The filling was similar to the siu mai above with the same steamed mix of pork and shrimp. Therefore I reached for my chilli combo again. I didn’t like that it was so similar, whereas my goal for dim sum is always having many and different contrasting flavours to bounce around on.
I would never order Baked Barbecue Pork Buns at dim sum. I find them so filling and normally a meal on their own. However, Jeannie did and I didn’t mind as their sweetly seasoned meat and sweet crumble topping on the bun served as a nice refresher in between more savoury bites. This was like having a dessert to catch your second wind with.
And speaking of dessert and wind, I ordered the Baked Thai-Style Durian Tart. I was looking for egg tarts, but went for this instead. Made with real durian fruit the tart tastes fresh and florally. Unbeknownst to me Jeannie actually doesn’t like the taste of durian, but thankfully I convinced her to try a tart and she ended up liking it. The worst thing is ordering a dim sum dish to share, but having to eat it all yourself; because your partner didn’t want it, but it was too nice to say anything. I enjoyed it. It was everything I envisioned: creamy custard and fruity filling, surrounded by a crumbly baked crust. This served as the perfect end to my meal, despite it coming midway through, as per the custom of dim sum.
Lured in by the fact that the menu red “new”, Jeannie ordered the Pan Fried Cuttlefish & Corn Cake to try. We were both equally disappointed by this. It came to the table did not match the photo on the menu. The patty was pale and could’ve used a better char for more flavour. Additional time on the grill could have contributed to it being more crispy. At the end of the day, this was basically a fish cake, but in a patty form. It was uninspiring, despite how much effort the kernels of corn were putting in. Once again, the chilli sauce came to the rescue.
In short, dim sum craving ceased and lesson learned. I will go back to ordering the same six dishes I always do. This is out of preference and the fear of disappointment from anything else.
Yue Restaurant
8351 Alexandra Rd #110, Richmond, BC V6X 3P3
(604) 233-1219
yue-restaurant.placejoys.com
