Top Gun J&C Restaurant - Review 2

Restaurant: Top Gun J&C Restaurant

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: February 21, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 2020 Excel Centre, 8766 McKim Way (2^nd floor)
Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5 (moved up .5, tried more stuff)

Service: 4

Ambiance: 5

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Part of Top Gun Group
• Considered a high end dim sum restaurant
• Traditional and creative dim sum dishes (mostly traditional)
• Japanese sushi and sashimi available
• Cantonese cuisine
• Discount if you arrive before 11am
• Ordering form service
• Busy, but plenty of seating
• Fancy set up
• Private room available
• Breakfast/Lunch 9:30am-3pm
• Dinner 5:30pm-10pm
• Closed Wednesday
• Reservations recommended
• Some parking available

**Recommendation: Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling, Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce, Steamed Beef Ball, Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style, Pea Tips and Geoduck rice rolls, Steamed Sponge Cake, Red Bean Almond Tofu with Amaretto, Fried Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

Top Gun J&C Restaurant is part of the Top gun Group so it is considered a higher end dim sum Restaurant. It competes at the level of Kirin Restaurant and Rainflower Chinese Restaurant.

So I’ve been here numerous times and this was my second visit for a continuation of Chinese New Year brunches.

The 1^st Chinese New Year brunch review at Top Gun J&C Restaurant.

The dessert at Top Gun J&C Restaurant.

On the table:

Pan Fried Radish Cake 3.5/6

• Or pan-fried white turnip cake. (Not sure what it’s called on the menu) $4.75?
• This is a traditional dim sum dish to order during Chinese New Year; although it is also a common dish all year around.
• It’s made in house and available ‘raw’ or not pan-fried (to give as gifts) during Chinese New Year and other traditional Chinese holidays.
• It’s a bit sticky and gluey in texture. It’s made of shredded radish of Chinese daikon, which is neutral in flavour. It’s not spicy and not really sweet either. The radish cake is very soft and the flavour comes from the bits of sausage, dried shrimps and Shiitake mushrooms they add to the mixture.
• The ones here are good, but I’ve had better. They’re a little firm and not soft and creamy enough and the edges could be fried crispier. I could also use more Shiitake mushrooms in the mixture.
  

Pan-Fried Taro Cake 3.5/6

• $4.75?
• This is another very common dish to have during Chinese New Year that is also available all year around.
• It’s almost like the pan fried radish cake but it’s a bit drier and starchier in texture. It’s more potato like and not as creamy.
• It’s a savoury cake made or shredded taro root (which is basically a starchier potato-like vegetable), rice flour, Shiitake mushrooms, sausage and maybe some ground pork as well.
• I actually think they did a better job with these than the pan fried radish cake, however I’ve had better of these too. These ones were a bit too firm again. They are firmer than pan-fried radish cakes, but even relative to other taro cakes they’re still a little too firm and a bit too dry.

Scallops and Black Wood Ear Mushroom Rice Rolls 4/6

• $7.50
• This is one of their specialty items and I haven’t seen them offered anywhere else.
• They’re a bit expensive, but that’s because there are huge scallops in them! They’re big white fresh scallops, not dried ones. Although it would taste delicious with some dried scallops in there as well.
• I wish I got a picture, but you can see the big round scallops underneath the rice roll skin.
• I’m not sure if black wood ear mushrooms were the right match – the crunchy texture (cartilage like) kind of threw me off with the soft yet meaty scallops. I would have preferred Enoki mushrooms instead.
• They didn’t have much black wood ear mushrooms in there anyways though.
• I found it a bit bland and the only flavour was pretty much the sweet soy sauce and natural scallop taste.

**Pea Tips and Geoduck Rice Rolls 5/6

• $7.50
• It’s pretty much sautéed pea tips and geoduck wrapped in rice rolls.
• This is another specialty item that isn’t offered anywhere else. It’s their in house recipe and not traditional, but still very good and very gourmet. So it’s a bit pricier again.
  

• The geoduck is a type of clam, so it almost tastes the same. It’s chewy and they don’t overcook them here, so they are still tender. They give you lots too and they’re cut in nice bite sized pieces.
• I really liked the pea tips in here. A unique flavour combination that worked well. It was a very hearty stuffing for the delicate rice rolls, but I still liked it. Lots of textures – soft, chewy, crunchy. I liked it! The ingredients held well with the sweet soy sauce you eat them with too.
• Good example of messing with a good thing…and it actually working.
  

**Fried Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf 6/6

• $10.95
• This is also quite pricey, but it’s good and they execution is done really well.
• It was very fresh and made upon order. I liked the presentation as well.

• It’s a pretty big pot of fried rice with pieces of salted egg yolk, scrambled egg, pieces of white meat chicken, baby shrimp, a few minced up Shiitake mushrooms, and sliced Chinese broccoli stems.
• It was very flavourful rice and has the same flavour as sticky rice. It’s not sticky though and the grains are separate. They did a great job with the frying.
  

• The yellow pieces that look like squash is the salted egg yolk. I love these! It maybe an acquired taste though. It’s very dry and very crumbly in texture. It’s quite firm and it has a very potent salty flavour. It almost has a bean like salty texture and tastes like fermented food. Well it is – it’s a salted duck egg (did I lose you!? I didn't want to say it and scare you off...) but it's a preserved duck egg. It’s the same egg they use in the centre of Chinese moon cakes.
  

**Steamed Sponge Cake 6/6

• $4.50
• This is a very popular Chinese dessert served during dim sum.
• The one here is very good! It’s hot, fresh, and made upon order.
• It’s very soft, light, fluffy, and very lightly sweetened.
• It tastes like egg rolls or Chinese egg balls in sponge cake form.
• It has a slight almond-y flavour and I loved the presentation! I’ve never seen it served like this. I ate the middle part…I usually don’t care for this dessert…but this one was great! A lot of Chinese people love it.

Shun Feng Seafood Restaurant

Restaurant: Shun Feng Seafood Restaurant

Cuisine: Chinese/Dim Sum

Last visited: February 21, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 1425, 4380 No.3 Road (Parker Place)
Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2.5

Service: 3

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 2.5

Additional comments:

• Specializes in Cantonese Chinese cuisine
• Popular for banquets/weddings/events
• Focuses on seafood
• Moderately priced: mid-high end
• Set menus available
• Big screen televisions
• Private rooms
• Spacious, lots of seating
• Hit and miss service
• Dim Sum/Lunch/Dinner
• 20% off dim sum before 11:30am
• Parking available

**Recommendation: Winter Melon stuffed with Dried Scallop & “Fat Choy”, Barbeque Beef Ribs, Sticky Fried Rice

I’ve been to this restaurant several times (I don’t even know if it was Shun Feng Restaurant all the times I came) but every time it’s always been for a private function or banquet. It’s not a place I come to for dim sum or regular dinners. I’ve never been too impressed with the food to come on a regular day/night so unless it’s a “forced to go” thing…I’d opt for something else.

The food isn’t bad, but it’s also not that good…it’s very mediocre. I would go back to try their dim sum, but I'm also in no rush. They’ve changed owners on a couple occasions so the quality varies, although I can’t say for better or worse because I don’t come regularly enough to really notice.

On this occasion I came here for a Chinese New Year dinner. We ordered from a set menu especially made for Chinese New Year so all the items were traditional and quite standard for the occasion. It was about $38/person with taxes and gratuities so the meal was not cheap (for a Chinese restaurant), but it also wasn’t really expensive or as gourmet as Kirin Seafood Restaurant. I don’t know the actual names of any of the dishes or the individual prices – so bare with me…I’ll do my best!

Overall everything was very mediocre compared to other Chinese restaurants that do the same/similar thing. The rating doesn’t speak for the dish itself because I’ve basically have had better of everything…the dishes they did do really well are under my recommendations. (See above)

On the table:

4 Kinds – Cold Appetizer 4/6

• Jellyfish, surf clam, chili prawns, pork hock slices. Served chilled.
• This dish varies at every Chinese restaurant and the more expensive it is the more gourmet the items get. The jellyfish is standard every time and the pork hock slices is usually standard as well.
• The surf clam and chili prawns are more gourmet items.
• Jellyfish wasn’t flavourful enough. Sometimes they marinate it in a little chili oil, but these ones didn’t have anything. They were very lightly marinated in a little sugar and barely any soy sauce/vinegar if any at all. It was crunchy and chewy so the texture was good though.
• If there’s surf clam they need to serve it with Japanese soy sauce and wasabi – they didn’t.
• The chili prawns were excellent. Juicy, flavourful and perfectly spicy, but also very savoury.
  

**Winter Melon stuffed with Dried Scallop & “Fat Choy” 5/6

• This is a very traditional dish to have on Chinese New Year. It’s a must. This one was served with broccoli too, which was perfectly tender.
• If you get it more “gourmet” it comes with abalone (for twice the price).
• The winter melon is almost like a steamed zucchini, but much more neutral in flavour and not as crunchy or fibrous.
• The scallop was too chewy, but that’s because it was huge so I expected it – but it was annoying because I was chewing for ages.
• The “Fat Choy” is the must. “Gong Hay Fat Choy” – hence why “Fat Choy” or “black moss” is a must. It represents wealth. It’s fungus that looks like black human hair. I know it looks and sounds creepy but don’t let that throw you off! It’s not crunchy at all or have the texture of hair…at all! It’s very soft and almost melts in your mouth. It’s similar to seaweed when it gets wet, but it’s not chewy. It’s almost like very very fine strands of noodles. I love it. They hold a lot of sauce and you barely need to chew them.

Deep Fried Shrimp Balls 3/6

• This is a pretty typical appetizer.
• Served with sweet and sour sauce. Some people eat it with red vinegar, but traditionally it’s with sweet and sour sauce.
• These were good here, but usually the shrimp ball will be wrapped around a crab claw – those are awesome! Maybe they serve them here, but you just need to pay more…?
• It’s pretty much a ball made of shrimp past and battered in bread crumbs and deep fried.

Sautéed Garlic Crab 2.5/6

• This was good, but I’ve had better. The crab meat wasn’t dry but they just weren’t flavourful enough. There was minced garlic, but just not enough of it and the flavour didn’t absorb.
• They sautéed it with green onions which were really crunchy, but I like it when they sauté it with green onions AND leeks. That’s really good!

Shark’s Fin with Shredded Chicken Soup

• Another standard and traditional item.
• I didn’t have any because I don’t eat shark’s fin for personal reasons – but there were no “oh it’s really good” comments so I’m guessing it was quite average.
• It looked quite hearty and there were lots of ingredients in it though.

Steamed Rock Cod 3/6

• Standard with any banquet menu.
• This was not bad, but just really small.
• It was fresh and not fishy tasting so that was good.
• The sauce wasn’t too salty or oily too…if the fish is fresh with lots of cilantro then this dish is almost always good.
• Served with the head; fish has to be served whole…Chinese tradition.

**Barbeque Beef Ribs 5.5/6

• This dish doesn’t come up often for set menu, but I’m glad it did at this one. It was unexpected and everyone enjoyed it. It’s served with a Chinese vegetable that’s likely in the mustard green family.
• The beef ribs were big and quite tender but not shred away easily tender…you still had to pull at the meat. There was some fat on it but it was very little and in between so it kept the meat very juicy and moist.
• It was so saucy and the sauce was sweet but not sticky or thick although it looks like it is. I could definitely taste some honey and Hoisin sauce although the Hoisin wasn’t overpowering or too strong. It was sweet, savoury and had a slight kick to it that caught up near the end. I’m pretty sure the spice was Sriracha sauce that they added to the barbeque marinade.

Baby Bok Choy in Supreme Soup 2.5/6

• This is just sautéed baby bok choy. The vegetable can vary and it's quite a common dish. It’s very healthy, simple and they serve it in this in house broth made of seafood and maybe even some chicken flavorings
• People like to drink the soup. I like the one at Kirin better – although they may use more MSG. This one wasn’t salty and I don’t think they used much or any MSG.

Fried Chicken with Prawn Crackers 4/6

• This was actually really good! The prawn crackers sucked because they weren’t very fresh, but the fried chicken part was great.
• The skin was crispy and the chicken was very juicy, tender and flavourful. They had a really nice sauce to them that was very subtle but very tasty!

**Fried Sticky Rice 6/6

• Fried with Chinese sausage, mushrooms and topped with scrambled egg shreds.
• This was surprisingly good! Everyone at the table raved about it – separately too.
• It looks very normal, but they did a great job. The rice was separate yet still sticky, but not clumpy.
• They fried it with some dried scallops and shrimp so there was so much flavour. There’s no seafood taste, but it does wonders in terms of adding aromatics to the dish. It definitely gives that “what is that?” flavour. In a good way!
• The Chinese sausage was very fresh and almost bacon like. It was borderline jerky-like or dry cured/smoked. It had a wonderful slowly cooked/prepared flavour.
• There’s always a rice dish with every set menu, but it’s not always sticky rice and it’s not always this good even if it is.

Braised Yee-Mien 1.5/6

• This was sautéed with mushrooms and bean sprouts.
• This is a standard for all set menus. A must – the noodles represent long life… so you can’t cut them.
• No matter how full you are you have to eat these, especially if it’s a birthday or special occasion. It’s bad luck if you don’t and older Chinese people will think you’re rude.
• It’s such a shame because I was quite full and I look forward to these noodles…but they weren’t even good. They were extremely bland. They forgot the MSG…or salt. Actually I found that they don’t use much MSG here, which is a good thing…but everything needs a little salt.

Dessert

Red Bean

• The most traditional and standard Chinese dessert…and I hate it. It's barely a dessert! It a hot soup made of beans...how is that a dessert? I really want to like it...maybe it's a acquired taste...or something I'll "mature" into...?
• This was very average even for people that do like it.

Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Restaurant: Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Cuisine: Chinese
Last visited: January 15, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Waterfront/Downtown)
355 Burrard Street
Price Range: $30-50

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2
Service: 4

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 2.5

Additional comments:

• Fine dining Chinese cuisine
• Popular for larger groups
• Popular for dim sum
• Popular to people working downtown/white people
• Known for seafood, I think Kirin is better
• Expensive feels more like "tourist trap" to me
  
• Spacious, 2 floors
  
• Dim Sum/Lunch/Dinner
• Dim sum 11am-2:30pm daily
• Seats 300, 2 floors, Private rooms available
• Set menus available (variety of price ranges)
• Open everyday for lunch-dinner
• Cash/Visa/Mastercard

**Recommendation: I wouldn't really recommend anything...the food is edible, but for what they're charging...nope. There's better.

Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant has the reputation for Chinese fine dining – it competes at the level of Kirin, but doesn’t come close to delivering. For me it’s expensive Chinese cuisine for white people or business people in the area. There are Asian people that eat here, but it’s likely due to convenience…or maybe they get a discount? I don’t know, but the food is very mediocre. If I’m going to be paying top dollars for Chinese food I would resort to Kirin over Imperial Seafood without hesitation.

I came here for a very casual banquet style dinner so the food wasn’t top of the line, although it was fancier than what you would order on a regular night. We were a table of about 15 so everything was pre-orderd and portioned out for us to make things easier. The dishes we had are representable of a lower-end banquet

food, so I can’t speak for their gourmet dishes. I think most of the food we had shouldn’t even be on the menu.

Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant offers around 5 versions of chow mien and 5 versions of fried rice from low to high price points. I think they should just make 1-2 versions of each, and stick to the gourmet versions. If they aim for a fine dining audience than people will pay for it…but the quality has to be there. What’s the point of serving food your restaurant doesn’t represent? It’s very misleading.

I will only briefly comment on everything because if I wrote with my usual details you’ll be here until tomorrow.

On the table:

Roasted Peking Duck with Crepe 1.5/6

• The skin was crispy, but also very fatty and oily. This version had a little bit of duck meat to it too. I like the one at Kirin much better.
• The crepes tasted too floury.
  
• I didn't get to try the shrimp crackers because they didn't serve them to us...I don't know why...
  

• 

Stir-fried Broccoli with Mushrooms and Dried Scallop 3/6

• The broccoli was tender and there was lots of dried scallop which was great – that’s what gave it an extra 1/2 point – otherwise 2.5/6.
• It's a pretty saucy and flavorful dish - common at many Chinese restaurants.
  
• I don’t like how they used canned straw mushrooms and I think it really cheapened the dish. Serve it with Black Chinese Mushrooms or Oyster Mushrooms and just charge more.

• It’s a simple sauce that’s not too salty, but it’s made out of stock and corn starch.

Sautéed Sliced Chicken, Snap Peas & Squid 2.5/6

• Everything was tender, but it was lacking some veggies other restaurants would include like celery, carrots (there were a few decorative ones). This is a bit on the oily side too.
  
• 

Shark’s Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken

• I don’t eat shark’s fin, so I didn’t try the soup. I used to love it, but then I went to Shanghai and visited the aquarium there, I got all anti-shark’s fin. I won’t preach on here.
  

• I could see quite a bit of Shark's fin in the soup though.

  

• Tasty Twist Idea: Add half a shot of Crown Royal to a bowl of shark’s fin soup and it really enhances the flavour of everything. I did try a sip of the broth with it and it was really good! (It was a friend’s idea and I thought he was crazy at first)

Sautéed Crab with Ginger and Green Onion 3/6

• There wasn’t enough sauce. Parts of it were juicy and maybe it was the way they portioned it out, but it was lacking flavour.
• I did try just the ginger and green onion sauce from the “head” part of the crab and it was quite buttery and tasty. I wanted more.

Duck Lettuce Wraps 2/6

• This was a very bitty lettuce wrap filling. It was too minced up and I couldn’t tell what I was eating. I like the one at Kirin much better.
• There wasn’t much duck, and the duck there was wasn’t very tender.
• It had a very smoky flavour overall, it really stood out and I wasn’t expecting it.
• The Hoisin sauce they used almost enhanced the smoky flavour. I don’t think they use a good brand of Hoisin sauce. The standard is Lee Kum Kee Hoisin sauce.

Soy Sauce Chicken 2.5/6

• The meat was really tender and slippery; however it was a tad on the salty side. I didn’t find that the soy sauce absorbed into the meat, it was just kind of on the outside of the skin.

Steamed Cod with Green Onions 2.5/6

• The fish didn’t taste fishy and it was pretty good, but there was a lot of MSG in the dish. It was skinless and boneless so it was very easy to eat.

  

Shrimp & Scrambled Egg Fried Rice 1.5/6

• The shrimps were frozen, and I think the execution was pretty poor.
• The eggs were over cooked, but at least it wasn't oily.

Soy Sauce Chow Mien 1.5/6

• Talk about laziness…mind you it was getting late, but still! Just because we’re not seeing it at the table doesn’t mean you should bring it out like this. I don’t care if you’re plating it at a separate table in the back – I felt like I was at a cheap Chinese food buffet.
• The noodles were like food court noodles. Barely any bean sprout or green onions. I don’t even think Imperial should put it on their menu. It doesn’t represent the image they try to aim for and they don’t even do a good job with the dish.

XO Chili Sauce 4/6

• I love XO chili sauce. The one here is good, but a bit on the salty side. There’s lots of dried scallop with is great.

Dessert

Mango Pudding 4/6

• This was actually the best part of the dinner. It wasn’t even THAT good, but it’s because everything else was so blah that this stood out.
• It’s served with some evaporated milk and it gives the pudding a slight creaminess and sweetness.
• They use real mango in it because I literally had the stingy mango parts to mine. Not necessarily a great characteristic, but at least I know it’s real.
• It was very pureed so I had no mango chunks, although I do like mango chunks in my pudding.
• It wasn’t too sweet and I would have rather eaten 3 bowls of this and gotten full off that rather than some of the other very average to poor dishes.