Restaurant Review!
Lucky Fortune l Richmond l 1211-8338 Capstan Way
The next time you go to your favorite Dim Sum restaurant in this city, be aware that you’re participating in a blood sport. You have to wonder how we can support so many Chinese restaurants and the truth of the matter is; we can’t. Places follow an unfortunate cycle of opening fast and hard with amazing prices, excellent food and gathering crowds. Soon prices need to go up, service suffers and the whole thing falls apart. Many of places don’t even make their own Dim Sum as the amount of preparation involved becomes prohibitive at cut throat prices. Let me illustrate the cycle of bust and boom for you.
Lucky Fortune Seafood restaurant opened in earlier this year and I got the chance to sample their Dim Sum. Their shrimp dumplings were amazing with thin, clear wrappings and perfectly springy prawns crammed within. The Siu Mai, with its filling of ground pork was also supported by a generous serving of prawns while the braised beef tendon we had was perfectly steamed, giving it a jelly like texture.
We were so enthralled that just a few days later we went back for King Crab which was in season. Served three ways, the legs were split, piled high with garlic and steamed. Wonderfully sweet, this was a bit overcooked but still reasonable for the price. The joints were deep fried until the shells became crispy and served with a spicy, sweet glaze. When crab is fried at a perfectly high temperature, the shell becomes so brittle that it shatters like phyllo and you can easily get at the sweet succulent package within. The shell was filled with fried rice and baked in a coconut curry sauce. Absolutely divine.
And then came the fall.
Line ups became unmanageable and the quality of the food suffered. The food was becoming over cooked and previous stalwarts like the beef tendon became a gooey mess. Suddenly, as brightly as it had lit up, this star began to fade and fall. Other restaurants opened up with cheap prices and wonderful quality drawing some of its luster.
This is why it has been so hard to find long standing stalwarts that have withstood the test of time. There is a real difficulty in holding talent and quality in this fickle market. The fate of this restaurant, like many before it, will be a steady and unglamorous decline.
Lucky Fortune l Richmond l 1211-8338 Capstan Way
The next time you go to your favorite Dim Sum restaurant in this city, be aware that you’re participating in a blood sport. You have to wonder how we can support so many Chinese restaurants and the truth of the matter is; we can’t. Places follow an unfortunate cycle of opening fast and hard with amazing prices, excellent food and gathering crowds. Soon prices need to go up, service suffers and the whole thing falls apart. Many of places don’t even make their own Dim Sum as the amount of preparation involved becomes prohibitive at cut throat prices. Let me illustrate the cycle of bust and boom for you.
Lucky Fortune Seafood restaurant opened in earlier this year and I got the chance to sample their Dim Sum. Their shrimp dumplings were amazing with thin, clear wrappings and perfectly springy prawns crammed within. The Siu Mai, with its filling of ground pork was also supported by a generous serving of prawns while the braised beef tendon we had was perfectly steamed, giving it a jelly like texture.
We were so enthralled that just a few days later we went back for King Crab which was in season. Served three ways, the legs were split, piled high with garlic and steamed. Wonderfully sweet, this was a bit overcooked but still reasonable for the price. The joints were deep fried until the shells became crispy and served with a spicy, sweet glaze. When crab is fried at a perfectly high temperature, the shell becomes so brittle that it shatters like phyllo and you can easily get at the sweet succulent package within. The shell was filled with fried rice and baked in a coconut curry sauce. Absolutely divine.
And then came the fall.
Line ups became unmanageable and the quality of the food suffered. The food was becoming over cooked and previous stalwarts like the beef tendon became a gooey mess. Suddenly, as brightly as it had lit up, this star began to fade and fall. Other restaurants opened up with cheap prices and wonderful quality drawing some of its luster.
This is why it has been so hard to find long standing stalwarts that have withstood the test of time. There is a real difficulty in holding talent and quality in this fickle market. The fate of this restaurant, like many before it, will be a steady and unglamorous decline.
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