Kirin Restaurant - New Westminster, BC

So what does the piggie family do after a massive family dinner the night before? Go for dim sum of course! Weeeee!

Kirin Restaurant - New Westminster, BC

Typically on Chinese New Years Day, the family will have dim sum together. What pray tell is dim sum? For all the vegetarians and vegans out there, I'm sorry but you might as well stop reading as dim sum is heavy on the meat, seafood and fat, which is why it tastes so good. Dim sum literally means "touch your heart" but I think it's a little more than just touching - it accumulates in your ass, jowls and thighs. To go eat dim sum is called "yum cha" (tea tasting) and tea is generally served with a variety of small sized dishes, usually 3 to 4 pieces per steamer basket or small plate (think of hor d'oeuvres or tapas). I tend to like going with a group of people so everyone can try an assortment of dishes and since there was a group of piggies, it was the perfect opportunity to have EVERYTHING!

Pan-fried Taro Cake

BBQ Pork Pastry (Char Sui So)
It's BBQ Pork in a flaky crust - need I say more???

Deep-fried Tofu with Crispy Garlic

Deep-fried Squid with Spicy Peppery Salt

Chinese Donut in Rice Roll with Scallions Topped with Shredded Pork

Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumpling (Shui Mai) - a special version is served today with the three pieces topped with:
Fat choy - a crunchy noodle like moss that is meant to signify creating wealth
Pig Tongue - a slice of tongue to signify a smooth year
Oyster - a piece to signify good fortune and good business

Steamed Prawn Dumplings (Har Gow)
This is the quintessential dim sum item that can't be missed - giant prawn pieces steamed in a rice roll with crack cocaine (more likely a bit of pork fat and scallions creating a nice bit of "soup" within the dumpling that you bite into)

Chicken Feet Steamed with Black Bean Sauce
This is the dish most people ask me about how it tastes, which is usually followed by a statement by how disgusting it must be. Why ask if you've already made up your mind? Well, here's the 411. It's just skin and tendon in a delicious sauce and it's a texture thing so for you all you peeps who don't like the softer foods, then you might want to stay away from this one.

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (Char Sui Bow)
Another dim sum staple item, Kirin does the BBQ pork justice here as it is mostly leaner BBQ pork in a delicious red BBQ sauce housed in a soft fluffy white bun.

Steamed Rice Roll with 3 Kinds of Mushrooms

Deep-fried Sesame Twists - Normally these are twisted into straw-like pieces but for CNY, they decided to fry it as thin slices to resemble gold sheets (for wealth of course!)


Deep-fried Spring Roll with Shrimp, Scallions and Pea Shoots - very good with the addition of pea shoots since having the shrimp alone is just too dense so the pea shoots breaks it up really nicely


Dessert time! Mango Pudding - the version Kirin serves has a richer mango flavor than other restaurants and has actual mango pieces in it! It ranks as the best mango pudding I've had at dim sum


With a dash of milk to add another dimension of flavor, it's the perfect ending to a sodium-laden, high fat, high cholesterol and gut-busting lunch. Oh so tired of eating so much food... time for a nap... Zzzzzzz....



A red pocket (lei see - symbolizes good luck and wards off evil spirits) with chocolate from Kirin - Happy Chinese New Years!

Overall, this meal was excellent but it came at a premium penny - I don't even wanna tell you what the total was. There are cheaper places you can go for dim sum but this meal was probably the best dim sum meal I can remember so it's worth the try. Bon appetite!

Kirin Restaurant can be found at:

http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/

350 Gifford Street
New Westminster, British Columbia
Canada V3M 7A3

Kirin Restaurant also has locations in Vancouver downtown near Robson, Vancouver West in the City Square Mall and Richmond adjacent to Richmond Center