3G Restaurant [vancouver]

MY GLOB I LOVE YUM CHA

We went to 3G in Vancouver and when we arrived at 11:30 on a Saturday morning it was EMPTY so I was unsure but Alex and Liz assured me it would be good and it was. 3G is a vego Chinese restaurant with clearly labeled vegan options (good work). 

3G is fill in the boxes rather than come around with trolleys; we picked a selection of yum cha and lunch items, though a few (GLUTINOUS RICE WITH CHICKEN) were unavailable. From the yum cha menu we went: prawn dumplings (steamed), fried bok choy dumplings, fried tofu skin, sesame balls, char siu bao, fried meat puff and spring rolls. From the lunch menu we got chicken drumsticks and a fried noodles dish. 

This was a lovely start to my first full day in Vancouver. The chicken was very crispy, and surprisingly made of gluten rather than tofu skin (as I’m used to). The tofu skin fried was a highlight, it was like a murtabak in many ways, so light and crispy and filled with something delicious.

Baozi was light and fluffy and not too doughy, a nice ratio of dough to char siu. 

The sesame balls and the meat puff were not my thing, made of that really chewy flour that I haaaate enduring at yum cha. 

Only one photo because you know what yum cha looks like: it looks like fried and/or steamed things. YES. 

3G Restaurant

3424 Cambie Street

Vancouver

Ordering at the table, toilet hard to get to, no step to enter (I think? Maybe). Menu in English + Chinese characters. Not really much GF. 

yumcha lunch at veggie kitchen: intention of love

I met up with my friend Fei for lunch on Friday at Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love. I love Veggie Kitchen. The food is always amazing, I always come out of it having tried something deliciously new, and the service is lovely and friendly and accommodating and it is pretty close to home. I've been there several times (and I do think I should visit more often), but before last week I had never been there for lunch.

Veggie Kitchen has a great lunchtime menu with lots of dim sum favourites, so Fei and I decided to try it out. I didn't take photos of everything but between the two of us we ordered the perfect amount of food.



We started with the beancurd skin rolls. These were layered inside with nori and then fried. These were crispy and fresh, and would have been my favourites had it not been for the RADISH CAKE:



Crispy on the outside and soft inside and perfect flavour and great sauce coating.

We also ordered the handmade noodles and a serve of the siu mai, and we finished up with the peanut bao. Delicious vegan dim sum, and without the need to go to Box Hill!

Veggie Kitchen was empty the entire time we were eating, which was about an hour. I know it was a friday lunchtime but seriously! I hope more people are able to drop by at a lunch time, it was deliciously worth it.


previous visit: cny banquet.



Veggie Kitchen: Intention of Love
159 St George Rd
Northcote

GF available. Easy to get to on the 112 (an accessible stop is right across the road) or the 508 bus. A step up into restaurant, widely spaced tables, and ordering and paying can happen at the table or at the counter. Toilet is down a long corridor and difficult to maneuver to. Takes CC.

vegie hut, box hill

Ventured out to Box Hill this morning with (part of) my Melbourne posse for a belated birthday excursion. In reality, this was just an excuse for me to finally visit the much talked of Vegie Hut Sunday morning yum cha. This has previously been talked about by Cindy here and by Lisa here.

We started with some congee, which was one free bowl for every two items from the dim sum menu. Next was a roast duck noodle, which was very good, the soup was delicious and the duck was quite tasty.



The grilled dumplings were delicious, and as always so much better than steamed dumplings. The filling in these ones were especially tasty.



We ordered some pumpkin cakes, which I didn't end up trying, and some ribs in black bean sauce, which I also didn't try. Some people didn't like it, but happily SJ took one for the team and devoured them. The siu mai (sadly no photo, it was very blurry) was excellent, so we shortly ordered a second serve.



We ordered some crispy noodles (originally destined to be flat rice noodles, sadly no longer served) and some fried rice (for Es, who apparently loves it). The noodles were really tasty, and the fried rice was okay.

Next was the crispy tofu skin (delicious!) and the prawn cake (disturbing but delicious).



We rounded that out with some char siu bao, two delicious serves of om nom noms.



We sat around nursing our stomachs, and I declared that I was nowhere near full enough, so to go with the second serve of siu mai we ordered some choi sum in ginger, and some soy nuggets in pepper sauce from the lunch menu. The choi sum was excellent, it is my favourite way to serve it, and a great way to end a meal. The soy nuggets were okay, and the pepper sauce was very peppery, so if you are into pepper sauce that is definitely the dish to pick.

Things we didn't try that I wish we had: spinach dumplings. Things they didn't have that I really wanted, so if they're available anywhere else in Melbourne please tell me: chee cheong fun, four seasons buns.

Afterwards we went to the vegie bakery, but I wasn't feeling in a browsing mood so sadly didn't take advantage of any vegan baked goods they might have had! (allegedly indicated by winnie the pooh stickers)


Vegie Hut
984 Whitehorse Road,
Box Hill

Bodhi in the Park, Sydney

It has been years since I last went to yum cha. Similarly it has also been years for D, whose attempts at yum cha in Tassie two weeks ago were foiled by a closed yum cha restaurant, so it was with not a small amount of excitement that we ventured forth to Bodhi in the Park.



It was slightly difficult to find, located as it was underneath where I thought College Park was located, and lacking any useful signs. Wander down the stairs, away from College St, towards the smell of chlorine and the splashes, and turn left. It is hidden there amongst the trees and under the walkways.

The menu is extensive, though not as extensive as I had hoped it would be, lacking my very favourite type of dim sum, chee cheong fun (and the related cha siu chee cheong fun). It is also expensive, coming to a total of about $65.00 for the two of us. The food was however quite tasty.



We started with a deep fried spinach roll, not exactly traditional dim sum but still pretty good. The spinach was complimented by I think almond flakes and tofu. We followed this with a curry bun, a new taste sensation for D, who has not had much experience with the squishy sugary bun and savoury filling phenomenon so common through Malaysia, and easily experienced (by non-vegans) at a range of chain bakeries such as bread top, bread box, etc (which I notice has moved in to Sydney).



The curry bun was excellent. This was followed by deep fried sweet potato squishy things, which were delicious but gooey and I could feel my arteries clogging, as it were. The sticky rice was okay, and being served on a tomato quarter was a nice touch, but nothing spectacular.



The cha siu bao, another of my favoured treats, was tasty. We rounded it off with some spicy noodles, which were good but definitely far, far too much on top of everything else.

As we sat there, unable to move, we picked up a little fruit bowl, as we hadn’t had any fruit all weekend, and in the hopes it would help us feel better after all of that deliciousness.



Eventually we stirred and went for a wander through the Botanical Gardens, walking very slowly and spending a lot of time sitting around, trying to force our bodies to metabolise faster.



I love the Chinese style, tiny dishes one by one, elongating the meal and picking and picking. Yum cha is that style taken to its optimum, the tiniest dishes ever and oh deliciousness. We have another dim sum excursion scheduled in March, when we will be venturing to Box Hill, and I am absolutely looking forward to it (and have high hopes for chee cheong fun). In the meantime, though, I am considering a dim sum party in my home. Om nom nom.


Bodhi in the Park
Cook and Phillip Park
(beneath the forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral)
College Street
Sydney