Chen's Shanghai Kitchen- Awesome Xiao Long Baos and Salty Soy Milk

I went to Chen’s Shanghai Kitchen a few days ago with my mom and we kind of went there on a wim because we have always had mixed feelings about this place. They are located on Park Road in the same area as Happy Date.Their xiao long baos are certainly one of the best in Richmond (in my opinion) but their service sucks like no other.

The standard Xiao Long Baos (6 pcs) ($4.50) arrived piping hot and were super plump and juicy looking.

I was afraid the skins were going to tear when I picked them up since they were sticking together, but it was completely fine and almost every single bun was intact with their juices.

I was incredibly happy because each bun was overflowing with soup! The meat was also very flavourful and tender. I highly recommend getting this because I feel like very few Shanghai restaurants can make XLBs THIS good.

Now, from the best to the worst dish... the Potstickers (6 pcs) ($4.50). Why were these bad? Let me tell you.

THIS is why. The bottoms of the potstickers were quite burnt and one in particular (the one in the front) was charred black. I wanted to tell the server but my mom insisted I not because we know how the servers are like here. The servers here will argue with you and take no responsibility for any complaints you have, even if they are surely wrong. For example, my mom and I came here a long while ago and ordered a few dishes. They gave us one dish we didn't order so we told the server. She didn’t take it off our bill so we were confused and asked her to take it off since we told them we never ordered it, plus they took it away when we told them anyways. They insisted they heard us order that dish and forced us to pay for it. It was a measly two dollar soy milk but the lasting impression of their service haunted us forever. Thus... this is why we throw caution to the wind whenever we come here.

We ordered the Preserved Snow Vegetables and Meat, Noodle in Soup ($5.80) and it was a gigantic portion considering how cheap it was.

The noodles were perfectly al dente and the topping of panfried pork strips, bean sprouts, and “snow” vegetables were incredibly delicious. I could down that whole noodle by myself if I wanted.

Lastly, we ordered the Salty Soy Milk ($2.50) and this is one of my favourite things to get here because they do it so well. They flavour their soy milk with many ingredients and it turns into something like a savoury milk soup!

In the flavourful soy milk, there are pieces of seaweed or kelp, green onion, chilli oil, dried shrimp (my favourite), and chopped up Chinese donut. It may look and sound strange, but totally be adventurous and give it a try!

So you may be thinking, “Wow, how can two females eat that much food?!”. Well, we packed the above leftovers home. The bill came up to about $10 bucks per person and our leftovers were enough to feed my brother for dinner as well. Despite their bad service, their great food and cheap price gets us every time.

Service Rating: 1/5

Food Rating: 4.5/5

Price: $-$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!

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