11:00 AM
Janice
A while back, I always had the impulse to eat "eight treasure duck" (八寶鴨) at very random times, and it was after a while I figured out it was because we were watching a Chinese show that always mentioned it. Golden Paramount is one of the more well-known places to have this dish. I had tried it once before at Golden Paramount, but my parents had never tried this dish before -- ever! Golden Paramount is a fairly small restaurant, but it's always packed so this makes for a very loud setting. The tables are somewhat crammed together and you'll probably get someone bumping into your chair a few times.
We first ordered our very typical crab meat and fish maw soup (蟹肉魚肚羹). I don't mind it, but I don't love it. It was a very ordinary, compared to other restaurants, and pretty much the same. I always want to order the daily soup because it's cheaper and generally more delicious, but my grandpa will have none of that.
My dad ordered the beef tenderloin with enoki mushrooms. This is something that I would personally never order since I hate having beef at Asian restaurants. Sure, they are often very soft but that's only because they're overtenderized. When you bite into it, both the texture and taste is not the same as real beef. Also, the sauce was a bit too salty for my taste.
I ordered the egg white with shrimp and scallop (賽螃蟹). There were a lot of scallops and shrimp, but I felt that the egg whites themselves were a bit too firm and seemed like they weren't pure egg whites. We don't usually order this, but I've had it a few time with family friends and I think it's supposed to be softer and more liquidy -- well that's how I like it. But it was also my first time that there was so much real seafood with this dish.
Since we haven't been here in a long time, we didn't know that all the dishes actually had a very generous amount of vegetables. If we did, we probably wouldn't have ordered the stir-fried pea tips, I actually wanted tung choi, since it was pretty much the end of the season, but my grandpa likes to stick with what he's familiar with. (They're pretty boring, and they stick with the same food schedule every week, alternating from their set dim sum restaurant and set cha chaan teng.) Anyways, the pea tips were a bit on the oily side, but that's pretty typical.
The last thing to arrive was the much awaited eight treasure duck (八寶鴨, ~$48, which is a whole boneless duck, stuffed with goodies such as glutinous rice, barley, lotus seeds, mushrooms, chestnuts, my favourite, duck egg yolk, and probably two more things that I forgot. The duck meat was very, very soft and tender -- practically what you would described as "fall of the bone" -- if it had bones that is. I've never had duck quite that soft, and it was amazing combined with the "treasures" inside.
It was sort of similar to a Cantonese style stuffed rice (粽), which I love, since it is stuffed with glutinous rice and has very similar fillings. I can see why my grandparents didn't think it was that worth it because of that, but if you think about all the work that goes into it, then it's somewhat worth it. It takes a lot of skill to debone the whole duck and stuff it -- all while keeping it whole and not tearing the skin. Also, this dish is huge, and comparable to two or three regular size dishes. Plus, it's super filling and comes with a lot of veggies. You have to make sure you order it at least a day before because they only make them on order.
Usually I don't comment on the dessert, but this time, they didn't have red bean soup! So I had to comment. Instead they had mung bean soup for the complimentary dessert. It was alright and definitely a nice change.
My dad ordered the beef tenderloin with enoki mushrooms. This is something that I would personally never order since I hate having beef at Asian restaurants. Sure, they are often very soft but that's only because they're overtenderized. When you bite into it, both the texture and taste is not the same as real beef. Also, the sauce was a bit too salty for my taste.
I ordered the egg white with shrimp and scallop (賽螃蟹). There were a lot of scallops and shrimp, but I felt that the egg whites themselves were a bit too firm and seemed like they weren't pure egg whites. We don't usually order this, but I've had it a few time with family friends and I think it's supposed to be softer and more liquidy -- well that's how I like it. But it was also my first time that there was so much real seafood with this dish.
It was sort of similar to a Cantonese style stuffed rice (粽), which I love, since it is stuffed with glutinous rice and has very similar fillings. I can see why my grandparents didn't think it was that worth it because of that, but if you think about all the work that goes into it, then it's somewhat worth it. It takes a lot of skill to debone the whole duck and stuff it -- all while keeping it whole and not tearing the skin. Also, this dish is huge, and comparable to two or three regular size dishes. Plus, it's super filling and comes with a lot of veggies. You have to make sure you order it at least a day before because they only make them on order.
Usually I don't comment on the dessert, but this time, they didn't have red bean soup! So I had to comment. Instead they had mung bean soup for the complimentary dessert. It was alright and definitely a nice change.
Rating: ★★★★
Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant 金百樂海鮮酒家
8071 Park Rd
Richmond, BC
(604) 278-0873
Besides for the delicious eight treasure duck, everything was quite good too (besides the tenderloin, which I would not recommend at any Chinese restaurant such as this). I liked it, though the restaurant is a bit noisy and squished.
Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant 金百樂海鮮酒家
8071 Park Rd
Richmond, BC
(604) 278-0873
2 comments:
that duck looks very hearty! perfect for the upcoming winter. time to get fat! #nomnom
@cf: yes!! It would def be perfect for the winter time! Parking there would be a pain though if it snows. That mall has really bad parking!
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