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It started with an express of interest in visiting a recently opened dessert place, then led to a scheduled visit to that place, but we needed a dinner first, so the ChineseBites crew ended up having dinner at Golden Eats on Kingsway near Victoria. For some reason I thought the restaurant has been around for ages and I just never went; turns out it’s only been open for about two years.

Food

We ordered a total of 12 dishes, and here are some highlights:

Served in Hong Kong style, the Peking Duck (片皮鴨) is served over two courses. First, the roasted duck was skinned, and served with crepes and scallion and hoi sin sauce. The skin was crispy, flavourful, but the crepe was a bit too thick for my liking. The highlight of the plate was the bed of lobster crackers. Typically restaurants use shrimp crackers because they come in different colours and more common, but they don’t have much flavour and can get soggy after absorbing the grease from the roasted duck. The lobster crackers here seemed to hold up quite well. They were firmer and thicker, yet still crispy and crunchy, and had some “seafood” flavour.

Meat from the duck carcass was then used for the second course, Lettuce Wrap (生菜包). The meat filling had a decent amount of meat. By the time we could dig in, though, the crisp at the bottom had become a bit soggy, relying on the iceberg lettuce to offer the crunchy texture.

Dark Vinegar Spareribs 銀山鎮江骨	Pan Fried Black Cod with Soy Sauce 豉油皇煎黑魚

The Lobster with Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (荷香龍蝦飯) is one of their signature dishes. The presentation was pretty cool, serving in a bamboo bucket. And it smelled nicely with the subtle fragrance of the lotus leaf. The lobster was cooked well, firm meaty texture with the garlicky flavour from the sauce. I really liked the addition of corn in the sticky rice to bring some sweetness to the dish.

XO Salted Egg Yolk Crab (XO 金沙蟹) was a rich indulgence because of the use of salted duck egg yolks. It’s salty and creamy, and you would want to lick all the sauce off the shells. What sets this one apart from other restaurants is the addition of XO sauce, which brought some heat and seafoody, umami flavours.

Soft Tofu Topped with Diced Seafood 瓊山豆腐	Lamb Hot Pot 滋補羊腩煲

The Eel Hot Pot (啫啫黃鱔煲) was probably an acquired taste. It uses river eel, which is more commonly found in Shanghainese cuisine. This type of eel is smaller, firmer in texture, and has way less meat. And because it’s smaller, the whole eel was used so I could spot the head and tail in the hotpot. River eel is also more fishy, so the restaurant used a decent amount of ginger and Chinese cooking wine. I love eels, so I actually quite liked this dish but I could see that it’s not the most loved item at dinner.

House Special Spicy Clams (避風塘炒蜆) was very good, my favourite dish of the evening. The clams were decent sized, plump and juicy. I had to refrain myself from going for a third helping. The house special sauce had a good amount of heat as well as garlic. I can see it go well with a big bowl of plain congee as well.

Ox Tail in Red Wine 紅酒燴牛尾

Lastly, Chicken with Sticky Rice (窩燒糯米雞) was another signature item here. The chicken was stuffed with sticky rice then the sticky rice side was covered with some batter and fried. It’s crispy on the outside (both the skin of chicken and the fried crust), with juicy chicken meat and soft sticky rice inside. Crispy chicken is quite common on Chinese restaurant menu, but without the sticky rice stuffing or the fried crust. I quite liked this take on a classic dish. Pre-order is required for this dish.

Final Thoughts

Overall the dishes were quite good, and my favs were highlighted above. I like that the restaurant offers a few items that are not commonly found in HK style restaurants. I would recommend getting the House Special Spicy Clams, Lobster with Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf and XO Salted Egg Yolk Crab.

Golden Eats Seafood Restaurant
2141 Kingsway, Vancouver
604-336-3389

Disclosure: The meal was provided to us complimentary of the restaurant. However, the views and opinions expressed in this post are purely my own.