Don't Keep Mum About Grand Dynasty's Dim Sum

Review Snippet

Overall: Pretty good Dim Sum in the Burnaby area; comparable to Kirin

Food: Dim Sum/ Chinese

Price: ~$20 per person

Ambiance: Typical Chinese restaurant atmosphere- noisy and busy (but it wouldn't be a Chinese restaurant otherwise)

Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant

4331 Dominion St.

Burnaby, BC V5G 1C7

Last Saturday, my family and I went to a Chinese New Year lunch and had the chance to try out a new Chinese restaurant in Burnaby. And I was so excited because I absolutely love Dim Sum! Its almost a passion, I swear. I don't even know why I love it so much but its probably the wide variety and the fact that each dish is a "little commitment". 

Grand Dynasty is within the vicinity of the Grand Villa Casino and definitely provides a good meal option, to splurge one's money (after hopefully walking out with deeper pockets). 

As usual, we over ordered, more so with the extensive menu...

Pan fried radish cake with XO sauce. So good! Perfectly crispy and not too oily, I especially loved the little friend XO bits. I certainly had to restrian myself from taking too many pieces!

Next was the pan fried halibut dish, with soya sauce. Tasty but nothing to rave about.

Steamed wild mushroom dumpling. I like this dish quite a bit, mostly because I like dumplings and mushrooms in general. Interesting presentation with the pea pod on top. The dumpling skin was nice and chewy- not too thick and starchy.

I don't remember what this dumpling was called and neither did we try it. Looks decent enough.

Steamed Chicken Bun. This was tasty, but the Char Siew version has always been my favourite.

My mum's favourite dish- Deep fried beancurd skin with mushrooms. This was quite good as well but I prefer the version at our other dim sum haunt, Sze Chuan Chong Qing Seafood Restaurant, near UBC.

Another family favorite- Siew Mai. These dumplings were juicy and well stuffed. Thumbs up!

One of the most memorable dishes- steamed sticky rice in lotus leaf. I have always liked this dish but my dad always says goes " no no, too much carbo" (lol my family is so scared of rice and carbs in general, its kind of funny). I'm glad we ordered it this time as this dish was so tasty! The rice was soft and fragrant, the filling was generous with lots of ingredients!

Other memorable items (which we failed to take pictures of):

BBQ pork bun- This was more of the bo luo bao, or pineapple bun, version and therefore sweeter, much to my great delight

Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce- the meat was tender and sauce was perfectly salty

We also ordered two bowls of porridge- century egg & pork shreds and fish filet egg white- both were nothing to rave about but the portions were gigantic!

Needless to say, we were too full for dessert so I missed out on my favourite egg tarts (they even had a green tea version!) and mango pudding. Another reason to return.

All in all, a good dim sum place, with creative dishes. Grand Dynasty is worth a visit if you're ever in Burnaby, or need some reprieve from gambling! -Sara

Time for Thaiiii

Review Snippet

Overall: Will be an option if we are in the vicinity

Food: Thai/ South-east Asian

Price: Reasonable; $10-$15 per person

Ambience: Thai decor; ample seating

115-4600 Kingsway, Burnaby

Station Square Mall

604-438-2288

Craving some reprieve from the hustle and bustle of boxing day shopping, and to satisfy our rumbling appetites, we settled on some Thai food within the vicinity of Metrotown at Thai House Royale. Knowing it was a chain restaurant, our expectations were not high, but settled on it given our less attractive alternatives of food court fare.

We were seated quite fast despite coming in at lunch hour so this was definitely a plus!

First up, calamari with Thai-infused spices and a sweet yet spicy dip on the side. The calamari was pretty tasty- crispy but not too oily. I enjoyed the unusual dip as well.

Another favourite of our family's when eating at SEA restaurants are the chicken satays. The skewers looked more like chicken kebabs to me, and I was slightly skeptical. However, the meat chunks were tender, even if they were not authentic. The same can be said of the peanut sauce- not super authentic but it was tasty. I felt it was a bit too "lemak"( too much coconut milk). 

Another favourite Thai dish of ours is the Pad Thai. This was probably the least authentic dish as the base oozed with a tomato-y taste. There was however, a generous portion of shrimp.

Lastly, we had the chicken green curry. This was pretty good and surprisingly spicy- the sort of spice that creeps up on you. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

All in all, this is a decent Thai restaurant to check out if you are shopping in Metrotown as it definitely beats the food court fare in the malls (including crystal mall). -Sara