It was my father’s birthday and he wanted dim sum to celebrate, so I suggested Sun Sui Wah. I had seen photos of their extra large sesame balls and supersize pineapple buns and I wanted a taste. Although this was not meant to be. I wasn’t aware of the need to place my order for each 24 hours in advance. And sadly and no amount of asking could procure it for me today.
Ironically, we did call many days ahead to make a reservation, but as is my experience with many dim sum restaurants, the reservation doesn’t matter. It is merely a tool to anticipate the traffic, as no physical table has been set aside for you. We were left waiting at the threshold, just up the double sided, curved staircase. Looking around we say that no smaller table for 4 was being held with a reservation place holder. The host asks, checks, and highlights your name; confirming that you have made a reservation, but they don’t actually keep one for you. We watched the service team push other guests lingering at their tables out; in order to clear and seat the next wave. Luckily, this is a speedy affair with the use of a trolly to busk and a quick wrap up of the used table cloth.
A group that came after us was seated before us. When I pointed that out, the manager claimed that the table they were given was too small, and not meant for four. Upon reflection, when was the last time you saw a round table just for three? Either way, our wait wasn’t that much longer, and our table was positioned right under the skylight, meaning my photos were all taken in the glory of natural lighting, so I couldn’t really complain.
We would all take turns checking off items from the colour printed paper and pencil menu. My dad insisted on ordering everything he wanted, with a total of 12 dishes that fed us comfortably. Below are our staples
The Steamed Crystal prawn dumplings and the Steamed pork and shrimp shu mai tasted as you would expect it to. But if you have to nitpick: the shrimp filling was fresh for the former, but the shell was a little dry.
The sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf is another regular order of ours. This version was described as “Quinoa mixed with sticky rice wrapped with dried scallops, dried shrimp, minced pork, Chinese sausage and salted egg yolk”. The rice bundle was only partially wrapped in leaf, majority of it was bound together by folded wax paper. My mother said it was a cost saving move. I would concur as the wax didn’t make their version of the dish more moist of flavourful, and the experience isn’t the same unwrapping it.
As for how it ate, I was intrigued by the mention of quinoa, as I don’t think that is common. However, I only made out specks of it, so it didn’t make much of a difference taste wise. I was impressed by the filling, for once a rice wrap that had more meat than sticky rice; plus a substantial slice of sweet Chinese sausage and even enough a whole salted egg yolk.
The Beef short ribs with black pepper sauce was very fatty and greasy, leaving a film across your lips. It flavour was so bold, so salty, and so saucy that I felt like I needed some rice or a base to eat it with.
I liked the Beef tendon and tripe in a special sauce. Steamed tender they had an easy to break down, gentle chew to them. I definitely enjoy them for their texture.
The Baby octopus in satay sauce was also a great one to order for texture. Their rubbery gnaw had a peppery curry flavour to them. Though I do also advise using their hollowed out round bodies as scoops, to ladle up more sauce, and inject more flavour.
We normally order the bbq pork steamed bun, so was glad we went for the Steamed chicken and ginger bun instead today. It used the same slightly sweet, white bun dough. Although it was better off sent with fragrant ginger and green onion. The filling reminded me of the sauce on the side that you get with Hainanese chicken. This made for a lovely palette refresher.
I normally don’t like the deep fried items at dim sum, but I really did enjoy the deep fried dumplings with shrimp and pork. They are served as egg shaped wholes, but you are given the option to have the cut in half, by the server who is delivering them. Using sharp shears they are snipped in two, for easy sharing. Each oblong had a good crisp that wasn’t hampered down by lingering grease. The centre was chewy like mochi with the salty meaty grounds offering a nice texture and taste contrast. I would recommend this one.
We were disappointed by the Rice rolls wraps with Chinese donut and dried meat floss. The dish came warm, with the doughnut at the centre hard. As a whole it felt incomplete, as if it was thrown together. The floss could have been toasted, and some seasoning would have been nice. This relied heavily on the hoisin and peanut butter sauce on the side.
We were also not impressed by the Stir fried daikon cake with spicy xo sauce. For $10 my mother felt this could have been a larger serving. It lacked flavour and needed more salt and spice. Definitely not the best rendition I have had.
Happily, the desserts did not disappoint; except that they came earlier in our meal, and in order to enjoy it at its best we had to dig into the Stream creamy egg yolk bun as soon as we got it. It was not too hot, so we didn’t burn ourselves or struggle to pinch and pull the bun apart to reveal its centre. At the core of each bun is fluid pool of bold yellow yolk, offering more than enough salty sweet cream to saturate each bite of dyed yellow bun. Simply put, they tasted as good as they were fun. Another one to order.
Although the show stopper was definitely the Mango pudding shaped like corn, yet still jiggled like jello-pudding. I basically ordered it by pointing it out to our server, declaring I wanted what the other tables had. A saw the corn and watched as others poured evaporated milk over it. It was your regular powdered mango pudding mix, but with actual chunks of mango embedded within. A classic palette refresher and mildly sweet way to end your meal on.
We actually also ordered my mom’s favourite Chicken feet with black bean and sesame oil, but it never came despite us checking it off. At least we were billed for it either.
Worth mentioning is that they are pretty lax with you bringing your own containers from home and using them to pack your leftovers with. My mother is not willing to pay additional for packaging, when already having to pay for the meal you had just before. So she cleverly came prepared with a variety of containers in various sizes and material make.
In closing they make for a decent dim sum spot. Although in truth, I don’t find that dim sum varies much from one Chinese restaurant to another. Recipes are similar, and so long as it is seasoned well and steamed moist I appreciate the budget version of our favourite above, over any gourmet option with premium ingredients. Dim sum is about bringing your larger family out and ordering plenty of small plates to allow everyone to pick and choose as they please. Sun Sui Wah is but one of those options.
Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant Vancouver
3888 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5V 3N9
(604) 872-8822
sunsuiwahvancouver.ca
