2012-03-02 Dinner @ The One Spot Soup House (湯.com)

5857 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC

604-568-7773

 

With a spur of the moment decision, we finally had the chance to bring MomJ to this little restaurant on Victoria Drive.  We have been here a couple of times but never been to it after its renovations.  The restaurant now looks a lot cleaner, tidier and brighter.

On our previous visits, only clay pot rice and herbal soups were offered on the menu,  Now, on top of the two, it also offers appetizers, steamed rice 蒸飯 and Guilin rice noodles 桂林米粉.  Just like before, after we ordered, we were each served with a cup of tea, a bowl of soup and a small container of an appetizer.

First to arrive was the Spicy Snail 香辣螺肉.  This tasted like the ones we previously bought from T&T Supermarket.  Spicy?  Nope.  Crunchy?  Nope.  Nothing memorable.

Next was the Preserved Duck 滷水鴨, or more appropriately, Marinated Duck...mostly bone pieces.  Taste wise was a bit on the saltier side.  Not a repeat item for us.

Buddha Boy wanted to try the Dried Mushroom Pork Dumplings 冬菇豬肉濃湯水餃, simply these were shitake mushrooms and pork dumplings.  The dumplings was a bit overcooked so the skin began to break apart.  The filling was tasty, the shitake made its presence.  The broth was not considered "濃湯" as it was quite bland.

While MomJ and Buddha Boy both opted for rice, I decided to try the Guilin Tender Chicken Meat Rice Noodles in Soup 桂林滑雞米粉.  The soup broth was the same as the one used for dumplings, except the addition of sour bean 酸豆角, crispy soy bean 酥黃豆, crispy pork 酥皮鍋燒, garlic, green onion, and cilantro.  The broth was quite tasty, but salty but the noodles were overcooked.  The noodles were similar to 米線 and the bowl had very limited chicken meat.

Yup. the boring Buddha Boy went with his same old Clay Pot Rice Topped with Minced Pork Cake & Salted Fish 鹹魚肉餅煲仔飯 (left).  MomJ had a Clay Pot Rice Topped with Farm Chicken & Tiger Lily Buds & Black Fungus 金針雲耳走地黃油雞煲仔飯 (right).  Nothing special, but both were satisfying.

Yup, beautiful isn't it?  I'm not a fan of crusted rice but MomJ and Buddha Boy were fighting over for the 飯焦 (Cantonese) or 鍋巴 (Mandarin).  While we did enjoy the rice at James Snacks 占士叻煲仔飯 in Richmond, but their accompanied soy sauce was one of the worst we've ever had.  As an overall package, we prefer The One Spot Soup House (湯.com).