Modern City Chinese Restaurant 新上海酒家: water, please!

Near the corner of 41st and West Boulevard, this is a popular location. Though the restaurant has changed numerous times until finally it's a Shanghai restaurant now. Of course, the star of a Shanghai restaurant has got to be the xiao long bao (小笼包) - dumplings with soup inside. I'm always afraid of burning my tongue because the soup inside stays hot for quite a while!

xiao long bao 小笼包 ($5.50 for 6)

I really enjoyed the xiao long baos at this restaurant as the skin was thin and the soup was warm.

烧卖

Siu mai (烧卖) are one of my favourite Chinese dim sums. The presentation of this dish, in my opinion, was horrible. Why did they put it in such a big bamboo basket? The dumplings are already small, but that just makes them look smaller, unappetizing, and not worth my money.

Rice cakes with meat and vegetables in soy sauce 上海炒年糕 ($9.98)

Those who know me knows I love chewy rice cakes. I love Shanghai style fried rice cakes so I just had to order this dish. I loved how the vegetables were entangled with the rice cakes and the pork was perfect. However, one thing really wrong - way too salty. I really wonder if they've forgotten and put salt in it twice! Water, please! 

Braised gluten with mushrooms $5.95

When I first saw "braised gluten" on the menu, I did not know what exactly gluten looks like as I thought it was just some kind of protein found in wheat. Well, that's what gluten looks like. As a food itself, it is better known as wheat gluten and you can get it by washing dough with water until all the starch is gone. Apparently, this is often used as a meat substitute due to its texture. It was somewhat chewy and juicy as it has absorbed the sauce. This dish is a popular in Shanghai restaurants and is served as a cold appetizer. 

steamed dumplings

I haven't gotten around to updating this post so it was a while since I've taken these pictures. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name and what exactly this last dish was. Some sort of steamed dumplings, and from the picture, I'm guessing one was shrimp and the other veggie. 

Modern City Chinese Restaurant is a pencil menu, in which you just check off your orders from a piece of paper. Overall, they did not fail in the star of a Shanghai restaurant - the xiao long bao (pork dumplings with soup) were great. Other than that, their other dishes that we ordered weren't exactly impressive.

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Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant 紅日大酒家

Ever since I was young, I've always been excited to get up on the weekends for yum cha aka dim sum with my family. Most places that offer yum cha in the morning are also opened in the evening for dinner. Fraser Court Seafood Restaurant is located on Fraser Street and 19th Ave and I've been here quite a few times for dim sum as well as for dinner. Unlike traditional dim sum restaurants where they have people pulling out carts of dim sum, this restaurant provides you a menu in which you check off the items that you want.

One of my favourite dim sum is "zha liang" (炸两). It's basically steamed rice noodle wrapped around a  "Chinese doughnut" (油條), usually served with dried shredded pork, soy sauce peanut and hoisin sauce. Yum. For some, I know that they have to have some rice in their tummies to feel full. Rice dishes are also popular dishes for yum cha and the spare ribs with pumpkin is especially popular in my family. The server will usually pour some soy sauce over this dish and it came with a lot of spare ribs too.

zha liang 炸两

Rice in hot pot with
spare ribs and pumpkin

Steamed rice noodles dishes are my favourite because they are so smooth and tasty. We got another rice noodle roll, this time wrapping around beef (牛肉腸粉).

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