My first meal at Shoom was about a month ago, where we tried their new late night menu. Popular Chinese dishes scaled down in smaller serving sizes, at a fraction of the cost.
So it was exciting to return today to have a full dinner with them, and with the food prepared as attended.
We were a collection of food writers and food enthusiasts sharing our love of Chinese cuisine with one another. Although it was a great group of people, it was hard to connect with everyone over such a large table.
For those not in the know, Shoom is considered one of the better, if not best option for elevated Chinese cuisine in East Vancouver. Not fine dining per se, but they so use a few premium ingredients in their traditional recipes. Truffle, pork belly, and foie gras; to name a few.
And now after my second meal with them, I can confirm this to be true. Majority of the dishes were delicious, there were a couple of stand outs, and everyone wanted to doggy bag the leftovers.
We began with the soup course, a large bowl brought out to be served table side. Best with a generous scoop of red vinegar stirred in. This was tasty with good body and a nice chew from the bits of fish. A very comforting start and my favourite of the classic Chinese soups.
And as we sipped and slurped, as per tradition, our crab and lobster was presented to us live. This is an opportunity to inspect each, and reassure to us that we are getting quality seafood for the premium price we would be paying.
The cold appetizer platter included deep fried shrimp served at room temperature, with a crunchy shell you chewed up and swallowed. Tasty, but having it served hot and fresh would have been ideal.
The thinner slices of pork hoc were a good ratio of fibrous meat to gel-like fat. Not much flavour though. And for that reason, this is typically the one I like the least in such platters.
I always enjoy the slurpable, crunchy yet jello-like texture of jellyfish. This was no exception.
Similar to the shrimp, the Roast Suckling Pig was served on the cooled down side, meaning the skin was not as crispy; which wouldn’t be so bad, if there wasn’t so much fat on each piece. Some crispiness would have been helpful in cutting into that overly blubbery texture. Here, I was left with a mouthful of fat.
In truth, I am not a fan of such Chinese seafood courses, as I find the process required to de-shell a crab or lobster below, time consuming and messy for such little yield. So as tasty as the crab looked, I didn’t have enough patience to go into it and have more than one piece from each dish.
The little sweet crab meat I managed to claw out was tasty, but there was not much curry flavour to it. Most of this was in the paste that coated the shell; and in order to get some you would have to suck the exo-skeleton clean. It would have been nice to have some extra curry sauce pooling at the bottom of the plate, like with the creamy lobster below.
Between the two, I would recommend the Creamy lobster with yee mein; especially as there is more easily accessible meat when it comes to lobster. And with all this extra creamy sauce it was more enjoyable to suck and eat. Although the sauce could have more flavouring, as I found in bland and in need of salt and pepper. I also wish the noodles were better at soaking up its flavour. We also found them well over-cooked and limp to the point that they easily broke apart. The true trees at was that they couldn’t withstand a “noodle pull” for photos.
One of my favourite dishes was the Truffle chicken. A classic combination of chilled salty chicken, elevated with a generous amount of salty and briny truffle paste. And with Shoom’s use of dill, it was by far the best rendition I have had to date.
The Plum sauce pork chop is one of their most popular signature dishes; and I can see why. I liked the unique tangy sauce and the crispy bits of the meat. Although some points were tougher than other, and after a bad bite, I was on high alert of bones hidden.
Leafy greens are not for me, as I am not a fan of the wilted, overly softened texture. But the rest of the group appreciated the Garlic pea tips as the vegetable choice at this Chinese feast.
Another example of their elevated dishes is this Black Pepper Beef with bits of foie gras added in. Although I appreciated the creative choice of Foie gras, I found it unnecessary and lost here. The beef was bold and flavourful as is, there was plenty of seasoning and enough sauce that you wanted to eat this over rice. With the foie gras and no base this was far too rich to enjoy as is. I was left craving for some freshness given how heavy and oily this left my mouth after one bite.
In contrast and as a breath of fresh air I really enjoyed the Broccoli with Egg whites & scallops. Crisp green florets, fluffy egg whites, and a creamy yolk you stir-in. The texture of the soft egg whites won me over. It was such an amazing mouthful: almost meaty with the flavour of scallop. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Definitely my favourite dish of the night.
The Sweet and sour pork belly was fatty. I found it needed a piece of vegetable to chase. I would have preferred the regular pork meaty, and found all the pieces I got were too gristly. And there was also less sauce than I had hoped for, or am familiar with in this dish. Not my favourite rendition.
And as per Chinese restaurant tradition, the rice dish came towards the end, whereas I was left craving it with all the meat and seafood above. Dried scallop fried rice with a wonderful wok fried crisp. Tasty as is, but felt like in needed something to have with it.
And for dessert we had a choice of a sweet herbal soup or their mango pudding. I went with the latter, like I did the last time. Served in a miniature mason jar with an oversized parfait spoon sticking out of it. This was a lovely palate refresher to end on, but I wanted more evaporated milk for a better ratio with the dry and firm pudding.
Overall a great meal, and a restaurant I would recommend to anyone in the area, and to my family when we are looking for their next dinner together.
Shoom Restaurant
6555 Fraser St, Vancouver, BC V5X 3T4
(604) 568-7797
shoom.ca
