Vancouver - Day 3: XLB & Capilano

Today is the end of our little Richmond pre-trip to Vancouver proper. We were originally thinking of doing a visit to the Olympic Center...but after reading some reviews...I got a little worried it would be very very disappointing. So, naturally we decided to replace it with another mall visit. 😆 But first! Time for the Richmond king of soup dumplings -- Dinesty. 

Ahh so good. Everyone agrees it was a 4.5 showing. 3 of the 4 tasters preferred it to Dough Zone. Our Dough Zone diehard remained loyal to her favorite restaurant. They were smaller and more compact but oddly seemed to have more soup? The flavor was more meaty, if that makes sense. 

Another highlight? The smiling robot cat (how can we tell it's a cat you ask? L says it's obvious because of the ears) that delivers the 25% off boba from the tea shop next door. 

 

Here's a favorite of mine, the wontons in red oil. I actually liked the flavor of Dough Zone's version more (more spicy/sweet) but everyone else disagreed with and liked these better. 4 stars. 

Here's our "a little off menu" order, the sweet and sour spareribs with pine nuts. Too sweet, not sour enough. And the meat was kind of hard to get off the bones. Also the sauce was too artificial seeming. So even though I love this dish normally, only giving it a 3 here. [Okay update, these oddly improved significantly as a cold leftover dish in the evening -- went up to a 3.5 in my book, now I understand why this dish is often served as a room temperature appetizer!]. 

Here's the obligatory smashed cucumber side dish to any order of XLB. I liked the flavor more than the one we got at Tony's yesterday. 3.5 stars. 

Here are the fried dough balls with custard sauce (gotten on recommendation of our neighbors who are transplanted Vancouver locals). Big hit for the twins. I would only recommend if you have children (basically it's like a Chinese version of a beignet or churro), but they gave it 4.5 stars. 

Lastly, we also took their recommendation to pick up these beef rolls. I don't know if this is normal, but they wrap it with duck sauce and cucumber sticks and green onion so it really reminded us of Peking Duck! But only scored a 3.5 overall, not special enough to shine on its own without getting credit for Peking Duck references. 

Our neighbors actually happened to be in Vancouver so they stopped by to say hi! Their two daughters are roughly the same age as the twins so they were way more knowledgeable than I in terms of blind boxes and keychain characters and "Jennie bags" -- tips were traded on shopping locations and Canadian snack recommendations before they headed off to their own lunch and we went off for one last round of Daiso/Miniso/etc. 

We wanted to make it to our next hotel by 3 though so that we could settle in before catching the shuttle to Capilano tonight where we have entrance tickets for 5pm. The forecasted rain came back around, so after checking in, we donned our rain jackets and headed off. 

The shuttle stop was super easy to find and the ride itself didn't take very long, the best part of the drive up was probably crossing the bridge into North Vancouver -- I can see why everyone recommends the coastal drive up to Whistler! On our plans for later this week.  Pretty quickly we left the "city" behind and were deep in forest. 

I have to admit I knew this would be very touristy and probably feel overpriced. But it seemed very iconic for Vancouver and hey, the US dollar exchange rate is favorable these days, no? 

We hadn't eaten since our 11am dumplings so I agreed to indulge in some otter balls. One of the other visitors noted that these are the "West Coast version of Beavertails." They were a fun visual snack (topped with caramel, chocolate, whipped cream) but taste wise pretty on par with a standard waffle. I'd only give it 3 stars.

We then moved on to the main attraction: the suspension bridge. 

The park still felt pretty crowded, even though I'm told this was much lighter compared to daytime. But the twins commented even in downtown Vancouver that they think they might prefer Richmond to Vancouver because there were less people. I think they also enjoyed getting so much attention and compliments because all the laolaos and ayis were so impressed with their Chinese language capabilities! 

On the other side of the suspension bridge was a series of more walkways and lookout platforms -- the so called "treetop adventure." We were back to the classic mugging for the camera (you may need to zoom in for the expressions). 

I was so used to the redwoods and cedars of Northern California that I didn't expect this to be mostly a Douglas fir forest. I actually asked the park naturalist to confirm that these were the same trees as our little 9 foot Christmas trees -- clearly they can grow MUCH taller if left out in nature undisturbed. 

A look down at the nature walk pathways below. 

Perhaps the most amazing part was the fact that they constructed the entire treetop adventure without putting a single nail, screw or bolt into the trees. Seems unbelievable, no? But apparently they use a system of clamps that exert enormous amounts of pressure on the trunks and use that to keep everything up. Notice the reddish metal clamps peeking out on the trunk there connected to the metal rods holding up the platform? After I told the twins and Baba, everyone responded with some variation of "let's get off this thing it could fall at anytime!" 😆 

Back down on ground level, we met at "Grandma Capilano" for the guided nature walk. Baba let me try out my recently discovered vertical panorama feature again to capture the full height of Grandma, the oldest tree in the park. 800+ years! While we've got lots of old growth redwoods that top 1000 years in our local hiking trails, that is like midlife for a redwood. I learned that most Douglas firs die around 500-700 years max, so this is truly a rare "grandma" of the species!

Injecting an artsy canopy shot here (I was quite proud of it) of Grandma Capilano and some younger members of her forest family. 

Turns out L is growing at the same rate as the red cedars (and would be very tall for her age for a hemlock!) Though I think all the trees will have comfortably overtaken her in another couple years...

The nature walk guide was very nice and gave us some interesting info about the wildlife that exists in this forest -- the twins thought the little Douglas squirrels were super cute -- but apparently grizzlies even visit sometimes! They tend to stay away while the park is open though (phew - we did NOT pack any bear spray). She also told us about this native American fable about mice hiding in the Douglas firs in a fire -- taken a look at a cone from the Douglas fir next time -- they really do look like they have mice hiding in there with the tails sticking out!

Next up was the Cliffwalk, there was some trepidation heading into this, which I found a little ridiculous - I think the twins have watched too many influencer shorts of the really harrowing cliffwalks in Asia with the clear glass panels that intentionally "break" as you step on them. 

This was a much milder version. 

Honestly felt way more secure than the suspension bridge. 

The crowds had also died down a bit as we got towards 7pm. Allowed for some more relaxed enjoyment of the surroundings. 

It would have been nice if we came in a sunnier day, I bet the sunlight streaming in would have made for some cool photos. But...then there probably would have been more crowds. 

All in all, it was an enjoyable excursion, but glad we had the 25% discount for going after 5pm and that it's still a 0.7 dollar exchange rate. 

On the shuttle ride home, we noticed that another passenger asked to get off at an unmarked drop off that was only 1 block away from our dinner spot -- Guu with Garlic -- so we quickly hopped off too. We've been averaging 15K steps each day so no need for extraneous walks! 

Back to the food blog -- this was a highlight, the soy fried chicken wings. Skin/coating was super light and flaky. Wings were juicy. Flavor was strong but not overdone. 4.25 stars.

Unagi-meki -- eel with egg in stone pot fried rice (what I usually associate with a bibimbap). Loved how the egg cooked against the stone pot. Baba though the ginger was a little overpowering but overall still good. L and I both enjoyed quite a bit - I'd say 4 stars. 

Sweet chili mayo fried shrimp. Very good. Everyone wanted seconds. 4.25 stars as well. 

Tuna sashimi - Baba and I both thought this was better than what we got in Richmond, though I didn't care as much for the salmon sashimi (sorry, forgot to take photo). So sashimi overall averages to 3.5 perhaps. 

Wagyu tataki. I actually ate more of the salad underneath than the beef. 😆 But R enjoyed the steak and Baba has not met a wagyu he didn't like, so we will give this 3.75 stars. 

Lastly, my yuzu mojito. It came with this little bottle that I had to pop open with that green plastic push piece...and then a glass ball fell in to sit in the upper section (unclear why? Just a gimmick?). It was amusing and a little confusing. I poured most of it in thinking that was my sake...but then later realized that was the sugary soda mixer. Oops. No wonder they served it on the side. 

All in all, Guu was a solid entrant in the Vancouver culinary itinerary. We finished eating around 8:30 and strolled down Robson to our hotel - we aren't sure what we will end up doing tomorrow yet given that the rain forecast has been getting steadily stronger. The original plan to bike around Stanley clearly won't work...maybe a museum? We shall see!

Vancouver - Day 2: Dim sum & Shopping

Today is our big shopping day, which meant a work day for Baba. We had several malls to hit, with several meals to break up the shops. Starting off with a 10:30 visit to Deluxe for "fancy" dim sum. 

L is READY for dim sum. 

Baba...less so. Needs more coffee?

Here we go! Shrimp dumplings. These were very very good. We decided we will get shrimp dumplings at every dim sum stop to compare. These tastes a lot fresher and more complex than any shrimp dumpling I've had in recent memory. Honestly the others taste like they're reheated compared to these. I give it 4.25 stars.

Mochi red bean...I wasn't a big fan though the twins liked them. They tasted as you would expect, through the green leaf did provide a hint of green tea freshness that elevated it a bit. I'll average us out to 3.5.

Mushroom, truffle, and some type of greens dumplings. This was my attempt to go non traditional dim sum to see how it went. Consensus: not well. Wouldn't recommend unless you are a huge truffle fan. 2 stars. 

Squash red bean pancakes. I think we all thought these were good...crispy outer shell, not too greasy, filling plentiful but not too sweet -- we were just too full by the end so it was hard to eat these (they are DENSE!). Trying to give it a fair shake and pretending we got them when we were freshly hungry, I think it deserved a 4. 

I think I missed the siu mai - again, like the shrimp dumplings, just tasted a lot more freshly prepared compared to standard dim sum we are used to. I am not a big siu mai person but I think I'd have to give it at least a 3.75. 

Here's the snow buns - cha siu bao filling. The filling was much lighter and less cloyingly sweet like what I'm used to finding. I'd give these a 3.75 as well. But I should say a connoisseur of siu mais and cha siu baos would probably give both of these a 4. 

After this first dim sum breakfast we went off to Aberdeen, the "Asian mall" in the area. Literally every store inside seemed to be an Asian brand. Such that we didn't really recognize any of them. 😆 But still bought various items at a Daiso-like place (including an avocado storer, I was intrigued!) and some blind boxes and notebooks at Art Box. We proceeded to walk over to Parker Place for some classic stall/shop type browsing (you have to assume the vendors all get their stuff from Shein and Temu?) and some boba tea. It took me awhile to pay for the boba tea...cash only...or wechat pay/alipay. I spent probably 10 min trying to get my alipay to work...never succeeded so ended up giving them some USD. Apparently cash needed in various places in Richmond! R was somewhat unnervingly excited about her blind boxes. I do not really get this trend...but her happiness was truly unparalleled so I guess I'll just go with it?

By now it was mid afternoon, so obviously time for another dim sum break. This time we went more low brow/classic, to Chef Tony. The cha siu bao was more similar to home in terms of flavors...but I must admit still tasted more fresh. 3.5 or even 4. This preserved duck egg and pork congee though, man, it was DELICIOUS. The flavor of the congee was SO good. The duck egg was actually flavorful. I might have to give this our first 5 star rating. The twins were close to licking bowls at the end. 

We also got a vinegar cucumber. Nothing to write home about but I felt like we needed some vegetables. 😆 3 stars probably. 

This was my other highlight -- salty egg yolk soft shell crabs. I love salty egg yolk. The rest of the family...not so much. So I'd give this 4.5 but they'd only give like a 3...I can't bring myself to average and draw down the score of what was (to me) absolutely scrumptious, so I'll leave the two scores separate. 

I think I missed the xiao long bao here...I didn't even eat one (everyone else took 2 each of the order of 6) so wont score it. Our big XLB day is tomorrow! Instead I'll close out with their liu sha bao (runny egg bun), painted with gold! 😆 Reminded me of the abu dhabi butter flecked with gold. The filling was not as sugary sweet as variations we've had in the past and the filling was runny even after we let it sit there for a good 30 min or so. I would say a strong 4.25 here. I thought we wouldn't be able to finish them but even Baba went back for a second half. 

Baba went back to the hotel after this (btw, the hotel was really amazingly centrally located for all of this eating and shopping -- I thought we would take Ubers at some point but everything was max 25 min walk and they were often shady straight line walks so not unpleasant at all) while we headed towards Richmond Centre, a more "classic" mall with a Sephora, Uniqlo, Muji, Claire's, Pop Mart etc. We bought some clothes, some chocolate (Dubai flavored at Laderach, the free samples man, they get you), and some more blind boxes. Again, I cannot quite understand or capture the level of excitement and happiness that resulted from these purchases. Suffice it to say they were extremely pleased with their birthday present/money purchases. 

L also picked up the pink wallet style phone case in the photo below. It's like so Boomer that it's Gen Alpha again perhaps? Because I was proud of them carrying all their stuff for what was now edging on 6 hours of walking about, I agreed to spend the money we saved on Uber rides for a starbucks drink. We ordered a deconstructed pink drink (ice, foam on the side and extra cups) so that they could split it. Twins liked this so much we may start doing this for all our starbucks orders. 

The original plan for the evening was actually to go hit up the Richmond night market. This was originally the only thing I was going to see in Richmond (back when we were only going to be staying in downtown Vancouver). But after so much walking and shopping and eating (I also told the twins it cost $7 to enter the market before we even eat anything there), the twins actually both decided it wasn't worth the effort. The only thing they really wanted from the market was a tang hulu. I think we can make that happen elsewhere. So we went back to hotel. Everyone rested a bit and recharged some phones...I wasn't actually sure if people still had enough stomach space for dinner. I should not have doubted us! L had been making comments about hot pot since we touched down in Vancouver, luckily, we had like 3 different hot pot places all within a 3-5 min walk. Cue the soup bases and meat and veggies!

We all tried the spicy (I even ordered it "mild") and immediately decided it was way too much for all of us. I liked having one shacha for the meat and one bone broth for the veggies. I ended up eating mostly veggies and bone broth for the meal. But the rest of them still made it though 4-5 orders of meat. Capped off with some free green tea ice cream!

Very success-FULL day of eating and shopping in Richmond. Tomorrow we check out of the hotel and move over to downtown Vancouver for the rest of the trip -- there is some rain coming in the forecast which doesn't thrill me...but hoping for the best!