Freshly steamed crab, exquisite jasmine duck among Chinese dishes done right at New Westminster eatery
Alfie Lau
Sun
Dragon Palace manager Charles Zhao presents a Chinese-food feast. Photograph by : Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun
As a Chinese-Canadian, I rarely go out for Chinese food because, quite frankly, my mother’s cooking has spoiled me.
I know what good chicken chow mein or properly cooked seafood should taste like and I won’t stand for substandard Chinese fare.
So when a colleague suggested that I try the Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant in New Westminster, I figured the only true way to gauge its food quality was to bring my mother along for her expert opinion.
I also brought along my older sister and her husband, who have a similarly high set of standards.
As we entered the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised by how upscale the dining area was. Dragon Palace definitely had that new feel about it, having just opened in September — and with more than 125 menu items to choose from, we would have some tough dinner choices.
Manager Charles Zhao has put almost every conceivable Chinese dish on the menu; he has three chefs on staff, with expertise in Shanghai-style (sweet), Szechuan-style (spicy), Cantonese and Chinese-Canadian fare.
“I live in New Westminster and I couldn’t find a good place for Chinese food,” Zhao said. “I saw a need for good Chinese food without having to go to Richmond or Vancouver.”
As a noted seafood and duck enthusiast, I couldn’t resist the fresh steamed oysters — a veritable steal at six on the half shell for $10.95 — the steamed crab and the jasmine duck.
My family, hoping to add a bit of variety to the meal, ordered the chicken with special chili and ginger sauces, the pork chops in orange sauce, steamed gailan, also known as Chinese broccoli, and the old standby, chicken chow mein.
The duck and the chicken came out first and I couldn’t get enough of the jasmine duck. With a fragrant smoky barbecue aroma, the taste was exquisite. Often fattier and oilier than chicken, this was crispier and lighter than the traditional barbecue duck served in Chinese restaurants.
The chicken, served cold, was a hit with my sister; she loved dipping it in ginger sauce. I, on the other hand, preferred the chili sauce, which added a kick.
Just when I thought the meal couldn’t get better, the seafood came out. The oysters, while very fresh, were slightly overpowered by the black bean sauce they were served in — a minor complaint.
Since there’s no elegant way to eat freshly steamed crab, four pairs of hands dug into the assorted legs and claws on the table and before long, all that was left was shells.
“Very well cooked,” my mom commented between finishing off her crab and starting on the oysters.
By the time the Chinese-Canadian dishes were served — the pork chops in orange sauce and chicken chow mein — it seemed like holiday dinner at the Lau household as elbows flew and food disappeared at a record clip.
The pork chops were a hit with my sister and her husband — “I don’t think Mom would cook this at home,” she said — and the chicken chow mein, while not as good as my mother’s (nobody beats Mom), was very well done.
When I talked to Zhao several days after our meal, he pointed out that Dragon Palace is a perfect complement to Kirin Sushi, the Japanese restaurant next door that he’s helped operate for the last decade. By giving diners a choice between several popular Oriental cooking styles, he could give discriminating diners a different type of meal almost every night of the week.
And yet, the final word on Dragon Palace has to go to the “expert” I brought along.
“My birthday’s coming up,” my mom said. “Maybe we can come here for dinner?”
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DRAGON PALACE
45 Eighth St., New Westminster (across from the New Westminster SkyTrain station).
Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week. For more info, call 604-528-8839.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
