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New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 [Dim Sum Review]

Newly opened at Kensington Gardens in East Vancouver (Kingsway and Victoria) is New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant, offering dim sum and dinner service. I came across the restaurant when I went shopping at the new T&T Kingsway which is located in the same building.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Curious about what they have to offer, I decided to give their dim sum service a try. Here’s a look at my experience.


Elegant Interior

The restaurant has two neighbouring units: one main dining area for dim sum and another VIP area (which serves as overflow for dim sum). The interior seems very grand and opulent with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble walls and flooring, velvet banquet chairs, and overhanging chandeliers.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

The main dining area was full so we were asked to go to the VIP unit for dim sum. The two units are not connected and have separate entrances. We were seated in a VIP room which had several dining tables.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant Dim Sum Menu

The pricing at New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant for dim sum is based on t their category: small ($4.98), medium ($5.98), large ($6.98), special ($7.98) and premium ($8.98).

I have taken photos of the dim sum menu and compiled it into a pdf which you can download below.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

What We Tried

The tea charge is $1.50 per person and we were presented with a clear glass teapot on a warmer.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Steamed Prawn Dumplings (001)

The prawn dumplings were pretty good with a nicely thin, translucent wrapper and bouncy filling. The filling had a decent prawn flavour and not an overt amount of filler.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway
New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Steamed Black Garlic with Quail Egg Shu Mai (004)

An elevated shu mai version with a quail egg inside and topped with black garlic.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway
New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Steamed Beef Tripe in Special Sauce (006)

Slightly rubbery and chewy beef tripe (as dim sum versions should be) marinated in a sweet and sour sauce.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Steamed Special Hot & Sour Meat Soup Dumpling (007)

I enjoyed the rich, flavourful hot and sour soup inside the dumplings. The presentation was nice as each dumpling had its own holder.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Rose Honey Sweet Potato Swan Crispy (028)

I enjoyed the light, crispy exterior with the sweet, purple yam filling.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Rice Roll with Prawn and Crispy Vermicelli (031)

The rice roll filling was very good and was made of a very crispy vermicelli and bouncy prawn combination.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway
New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Baked Special Crisps Egg White Milk Tarts (040)

The egg tarts were nicely warm, buttery and flaky. As the filling was made with just egg whites, it had a lighter flavour than a classic egg tart.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Souffle Topped with Almond Flakes (043)

The light and airy souffle tasted mostly of egg whites. One interesting part was that it had a blueberry compote on the inside. The server cut it up with scissors at our table.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway
New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Moon Rabbits (047)

The moon rabbits were essentially coconut puddings shaped into cute rabbits. I love coconut puddings but I ordered this mainly for the presentation.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Our bill for two people after tax was $73 which seemed more or less reasonable considering the quality, taste and presentation of the items.

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家 Dim Sum Vancouver Kingsway

Service

I was a bit concerned about the service as we were tucked inside a room rather than an open area where lots of staff could see you. However, it turned out OK even though we needed to flag the server a few times. Food was brought to the table in a timely manner.

Overall Impression

I thought the dishes tasted pretty good overall and some had really cute presentation like the rabbits and the swan. New Mandarin seems like an upscale restaurant (though not quite fine dining) with elevated dim sum options that are approachable. Service could be more refined but perhaps they are still working out their operations. Rating: 3.5/5


New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant 時代文華海鮮酒家
4650 Gladstone St, Vancouver, BC
www.newmandarinseafoodrestaurant.com/

New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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