Address:
4151 Hazelbridge Way (In Aberdeen Mall)
Richmond, BC V6X 4J7
Tel: (604) 303-9739
May 1, 2012 – Lunch
Written by: Second Stomach
Hello Kitty invited me out for dim sum. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Fisherman’s Terrace. The last time I was here was with Hello Kitty. I can’t say that I was particularly impressed the last time I visited but I was willing to give this restaurant another try. Walking into this restaurant, you notice the high ceilings and the narrow layout of the restaurant. The narrow layout follows the curve of Aberdeen mall and allows for large windows all along the side. So, most of the time, you will be able to get lots of natural light and the large windows are beautiful (although there isn’t much of a great view other than just outside the mall). There are also gorgeous chandeliers which add to the decor of the restaurant.
Here’s a look at the dim sum menu:
Today’s lunch consisted of:
Pan Fried Buns with Meat and Vegetables
Beef Siu Mai
Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow)
Spring Roll Garlic Shrimp
Pan Fried Buns with Meat and Vegetables – $4.55
- This was served with a small bit of red vinegar
- When it was presented, the buns didn’t look very attractive. They were served warm; we would have preferred them to be presented to us steaming hot.
Here’s a closer look:
- Hello Kitty and I usually like these buns which is why we ordered them. However, these buns are supposed to be “pan-fried”. They were pan-fried but just slightly fried along the bottom. Typically, you’d see a bit of the browning up the sides of the bun.
- I think this was a poor effort in terms of frying the buns – the result was that the outside of the bun wasn’t crispy like it should have been and it didn’t taste like they were pan-fried. We were looking for the nice contrast between a soft bun and a crispy exterior.
Here’s a closer look inside the bun:
- You can see the browning along the bottom but you can really see the contrast between the filling and the bun. For Hello Kitty and I, we felt that the bun-filling ratio wasn’t optimal – there was simply too much bun and not enough filling. As we were eating these buns, we couldn’t help but crave the more superior pan fried pork buns from Dinesty.
Taste: 2/5
Presentation: 2.5/5
Value: 3/5
Beef Siu Mai – $4.55
- Hello Kitty ordered these because she says not a lot of restaurants prepare this particular dish. She said that even in Hong Kong, not many restaurants will make this dim sum so when we saw this on the menu, we ordered it.
- Well, we were surprised. They came presented to us looking like the beef ball dim sum dish.
Here’s a closer look at one of these beef “siu mai’s”:
- Looks like the beef ball dim sum, doesn’t it? In fact, it basically tasted the same as well – the only difference was that there was a siu mai wrapper (or won ton wrapper) around the “meatball”.
- Since Hello Kitty has had the proper beef siu mai in the past, she explained that the real thing should be dryer (this one was too wet) and have a different texture. So, this dim sum was a disappointment for us.
Taste: 2.5/5
Presentation: 2.5/5
Value: 2/5
Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) – $4.95
- It wouldn’t be dim sum if we didn’t order a plate of shrimp dumplings (har gow).
- These came out steaming so we were pleased to see this.
Here’s a closer look at a single shrimp dumpling:
- Even from this picture, you’ll notice a few things which also did correlate with the taste. The thickness of the wrapper was really a bit too thick for shrimp dumplings. You can see the wrapper is stiffer – ideally, we wanted to see a much thinner and stickier wrapper. Also, you can see that inside the dumpling, there wasn’t much “juice” – so it was definitely too dry. We expect our shrimp dumplings to be juicy.
- Some good points about the dumplings were that the shrimp inside were of a reasonable size and overall the size of the dumplings was reasonable as well. For a dim sum staple however, this was a bit disappointing.
Taste: 3/5
Presentation:3/5
Value: 3/5
Spring Roll Garlic Shrimp – $4.55
- This dim sum came with a small dish of worcestershire sauce. We were pleased to see that it arrived very hot – so they probably just came out of the fryer.
Here’s a closer look inside one of the rolls:
- Inside you can see that the shrimp were of a decent size. The exterior was very crispy, as it should have been. Unfortunately, these spring rolls are called “garlic shrimp” spring rolls and honestly, Hello Kitty and I could not taste the garlic. Definitely more garlic flavor would have improved this dish even more. Overall, it was pretty good, and it was the best one today.
Taste: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Value: 3.5/5
Here’s the final bill for the 2 of us today:
Fisherman’s Terrace is conveniently located at Aberdeen Mall and is a beautiful restaurant especially during the day when lots of natural light comes in through the large windows. Dim sum today was a bit of a disappointment – most of our dishes were not quite up to our expectations. The “winner” today was the Garlic Shrimp Spring Rolls. Nonetheless, even though the dishes didn’t meet out expectations taste-wise, the atmosphere is beautiful and we enjoyed taking our time.
The good…
- Conveniently located at Aberdeen Mall
- Very nice interior and atmosphere
The bad…
- Dim sum was just “ok”, especially for a restaurant of this calibre.
