It has been a while since I visited a Dinesty location. They were one of the first Chinese restaurants I went to when I had my own money and wanted to eat out with friends instead of family. I have always seen it as being approachable Chinese for those not familiar with the cuisine, or for those not use to having to ordering Chinese food for themselves.
They were also the first place I tried the highly popular xiao long bao (soup dumplings) from, and had instantly became a fan.
In truth, as I grew and continued to try new restaurants I forgot about Dinesty and eventually found other places I thought superior. Although it might have been location specific (as the one I am referring to is closed now) and our latest visit had me thinking they are a lot better than I had remembered. Not only for food, but for service as well.
Setting wise I have always thought Dinesty did a good job of offering spacious seating with a flair of oriental styling and art.
Today we were at the Robson location. We would walk in with no line at 5:30pm and walk out of a fully packed room with three staff members doing their best to service them all.
I didn’t remember the ability to watch their dumplings being made prior, but today you had a chance to watch three women hand roll xiao long baos from behind the glass partition of the kitchen. A view right by the enterance and one to entice you further into the restaurant.
We were here to check out a few dishes advertised as being part of their Chinese New Year offerings. Reality is I have never heard of most of them and majority of them would not be things I would normall order. However, we were glad we got to as we did enjoy the unexpected here tonight.
The Stir-Fried Rice Cake with Salted Vegetable & Meat was a nice substitute for rice. I am a fan of rice cakes for their texture, so could have eaten these as is with no compliants. The vegetable and meat made the plate more full. You had a choice between chicken or pork for protein, we went with the latter. The slices of chewy rice cake speckled in bits of green were given their flavour through the vegetables that offered a bitter saltiness and the strips of pork that gave things a fattier gristle. Honestly it wasn’t all that appetizing to look at, but it did offer a nice and clean flavour to enjoy.
You can’t visit a Dinesty location without ordering their XLB. Not my favourite, but I did appreciate how perfect they looked like small bells in their giant branded steamer. The go-to is their regular soup dumping, but they also have a Black Truffle or XO Sauce one to consider. We figured that since we were trying all new dishes anyways, we might as well keep on that trend and order the black truffle. We are both fans of truffle’s umami flavour and wondered how it would transition into traditional Chinese cuisine.
I often complain that items that promise truffle never deliver, but this one sure did. One of the more truffle-ful items I have ever had. It was good, but not expected, and not something we would need to revisit. In hindsight the XO sauce would have been the best choice.
Served at the perfect room temperate so you can enjoy the soup within in the dumpling without burning yourself. The black truffle flavour was strong and it dominated. Lovely as an appetizer on its own, but it was an outlier compared to the remainder of the meal, and didn’t match the vinegar and ginger dip that comes standard with their XLBs. Instead, I had the vinegar with the rice cakes.
New on their menu is the Stewed Pig Intestine & Pig Blood Tofu in Gongbao Sauce. We didn’t know what to expect, but weren’t scared away seeing as we have both eaten our fair share of intestines and blood. As expected it was a punchy and unique flavour rich in iron. Hard to have as is, we had to order a couple bowls of rice to wash some of that flavour out. I liked the sauce as a gravy along with the blood cubes I mashed in. However, each bite felt like it needed a meatier protein to mellow things out.
Here, the Spicy Chicken Claypot helped. It had a familar caramelized sweet teriyaki flavour, fully coating bits of dark meat chicken. The chicken was tender, but the bone brittle at the centre, and easy to crumble into shards within the mouth. Choking was a hazard I was worried about. Like the dish above, it felt incomplete as is, but together with everything else over rice it felt like a full meal.
I am happy that my most recent experience at Dinesty is a redeeming one. Everything was much better than what I remembered, at least for this location. I will not be shying away from a return visit and would like to try their XO sauce XLBs when I do.
Dinesty Dumpling House
1719 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6G 1C9
(604) 669-7769
dinesty.ca
