I gotta say, I love me some Chinese food. I can never get enough of fried rice noodles with beef. Most of the Chinese restaurants that are half decent or better are in Richmond or Vancouver. My dad introduced me to this one recently. It’s one of those “hole-in-the-wall” type places in Burnaby here. It’ just blends in with the environment and you won’t see it unless you look hard for it. Actually it’s a bit closer towards New West.
It’s called Chong Lum Hin seafood restaurant.
7604 – 6th St, Burnaby. Right across from Peter Julian’s office. Hit the 106 and it should cross into that area.
They’ve got some pretty good dim sum during the day. That’s what I had when I went there. Retrofitting windows at home is tough work. Work up a good appetite if you know what I mean.
All you guys that don’t speak an ounce of Chinese but still want to enjoy dim sum anyway, there are about four words you should learn for ordering.
Those words are:
Ha gao and siu mai.
The former is shrimp dumpling and the latter is either pork or chicken dumplings wrapped in some sort of flour. Might have a few mushrooms in it to boot.
Absolutely delicious.
Anyway, I went for lunch there with my dad and his friend. I glanced at the dim sum menu (and surprise, it has the English translation right below so that you have an idea of what you’re ordering). That’s always great because I go to some of these Chinese places out in Vancouver. Now I can’t read shit for Chinese. I can speak enough to order food and all that but I can’t read. I have to have pictures. English is the second best thing. A lot of those Chinese places have their dishes purely in Chinese so I don’t have a freakin’ idea what I’m ordering. It is something I do appreciate.
Overall restaurant atmosphere is okay. It’s not outright dirty or unhygienic or messy or anything. Tables are like quadruple wrapped with cloth and plastic up top. Walking in at around 1230, I can see that it’s half filled. Lots of families in there and several couples. A few Caucasian people around along with Asians to help the restaurant diversity helps too.
Pro tip: If you see a fairly large number of Asians in an Asian restaurant, it’s either good or cheap. Or both.
Alright. Enough with the small talk. Did this restaurant meet my standards in Chinese cuisine?
The order
Three hungry guys. This is what we ordered.
Fried prawns with salt and paper
Yeah that’s 3 dishes with prawns.
But that’s not enough. Dim sum dishes are okay. We needed a bit more sustenance. May as well add some noodles to the mix.
Singapore style fried vermicelli
Total: A little over 30 bucks. That’s about $10 a person. That’s a pretty decent sized meal right there. It just hit the spot. I was left not too full but not still hungry either. I’m tired of places where I drop like 15 bucks for a meal and I still end up unsatisfied and hungry after.
Dim sum dishes ranged from $2.50 (ribs in black bean sauce as an example) to $5.50 (chicken wings or deep fried prawns, but who the heck goes to a Chinese restaurant to order just chicken wings?)
Perfect place for a student with a budget. Good sized amount of food that’s relatively affordable. I would come here again in the future with several friends in tow.