7109 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC
604-322-5088
On my way to Richmond, I noticed a frozen dim sum place in a little strip mall on Victoria Drive near 54th Avenue. The name caught my eyes..."Taipei Dim Sum & Noodles"...so I decided to check it out on my way home.
Apparently, this place has been here for 13+ years. With no advertisements seen anywhere, the owners told me that their business is based on word-of-mouth...this has interested me.
At first, I only planned to buy a pack of the Steamed Pork Bun (豬肉小籠包) and a pack of the Green Chives & Pork Dumpling (韭菜豬肉水餃), but when the owners mentioned about a complimentary bag of noodles with a minimum $30 purchase, the cheap side of Buddha Girl kicked in...LOL!!! I was already at the $25 mark, I just had to grab one or two more. I ended up adding a couple packs of the Bok-Choy & Pork Fried Dumpling (豬肉白菜鍋貼), or simply, pot-stickers. For noodles, since I had the thought of making Taiwanese cold noodles (台式涼麵), I opted for the Oily Noodle (油麵).
Previously, I mentioned that I've always purchased my frozen dumplings from Sweet Country on Kingsway and Slocan, therefore, it made sense for me to make the comparison between the two. The chive & pork dumplings from SC is slightly larger than the ones from TDS. Price wise, SC charges $10 for a pack of 50, while TDS charges $12 for the same amount.
The dumpling wrappers at TDS were machine-made, the wrappers were quite thick and doughy. Fillings were not plump and full, and they used a lot of fat in the mix. It seemed like there's quite a bit of chives, but it's mainly green onions and leeks. There's a significant "chive" taste difference between SC and TDS. In the end, SC has better chive & pork dumplings, not to mention better in value.
TDS's pot-stickers looked sad...not much meat. Again, the wrappers were thick. Filling was a bit salty...we didn't need any dipping sauces.
The XLBs were horrendous. The skins were the same wrappers as the dumplings, thick and doughy. I think it's the same filling as the pot-stickers...extremely disappointing. For those of you looking for some good frozen XLB, I would suggest Yummy Shanghai Dim Sum (雅美上海點心) on Victoria Drive, however, it's quite pricey.
Personally, I will not return...I think I've tried enough. I'll stick with SC until I find elsewhere that's worth of my time and money. Anyhow, here's the menu for TDS.
I kept thinking about the dumplings I ate at Daisy's all the time TOT
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! You mean the ones you were afraid to try because you thought they were green onions??? Those 薺菜餛飩 were so yummy!
ReplyDeleteYesss yesss yesss I love those!!!
ReplyDeleteWhere can I buy those? Are they homemade? I like SC's pork and chives dumplings too. They are really good.
ReplyDeleteTry the one south of Marine Dr and Oak. It's called 恩加 I think.
ReplyDelete@Crispy:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the ones Elaine was talking about were homemade by my sister, Daisy. But I have had some good ones elsewhere, like the Shanghai stall in Aberdeen, but I don't know what they call it in English.
@Andy:
I will for sure check it out! I love dumplings! 3Q3Q!