Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant

One of the most popular places for dim sum in Metro Vancouver is Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant on Victoria Drive.  This restaurant has been open for nearly a decade with dim sum from 9 am – 3 pm every day and it continues to attract line-ups outside the door.  I had previously posted about my experience at the media tasting organized by Chinesebites where I named my top 10 dishes from Western Lake (see post here).  Today, I want to share with you some thoughts on a weekend dim sum experience at Western Lake with my family.

What We Tried

• Small ($4.25)
  • Green Tea Coconut Milk Gelatin
• Medium ($4.75)
  • Steam BBQ Pork Buns
  • Steam Shanghai Style Pork Buns
• Large ($5.25)
  • Steam Prawn Dumplings
  • Pan Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste
  • Steam Rice Flour Roll with Beef & Cilantro
• Special ($5.95)
  • Steam Scallop with Prawn Dumplings
• Kitchen Specialties
  • Western Lake Chef’s Specialty Stir-Fried Bean Vermicelli ($15.80)

One of my favourites at Western Lake is the Green Tea Coconut Milk Gelatin.  I love the firm yet still gelatinous texture.  The predominant flavour is coconut and less so of the green tea, but I still enjoy it very much.

The Steamed BBQ buns were soft and fluffy on the outside and had a nice sweet savoury pork filling.

The Steam Shanghai Style Pork Buns didn’t have the most thin wrapper but the pork filling was nicely seasoned and the broth was rich and flavourful.

The Steam Prawn Dumpling were perfectly bouncy and snappy.  They had the right, thin, and stretchy, translucent wrappers.

The Pan Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste is another favourite of mine at Western Lake.  The eggplant had a very nice, melt-in-your-mouth texture that is held up by the shrimp paste.  Top it all off with a flavourful black bean sauce and you’ve got one amazing dim sum dish.

I quite enjoyed the soft, springy texture of the Steam Rice Flour Roll with Beef & Cilantro.  The beef filling was nicely seasoned and tender.

The Steam Scallop with Prawn Dumplings had snappy shrimp as well as tender scallop.

The Western Lake Chef’s Specialty Stir-Fried Bean Vermicelli was one of my favourite dishes of the meal.  This was the first time that I tried it.  It was packed with flavour mostly from the sweet and savoury Chinese sausage.  These were also fried egg, prawns, and chicken in the dish.  I highly recommend it.

Overall Impression of Western Lake

Western Lake delivers a solid dim sum service with decent portions, taste and the price.  I continue to be a fan of Western Lake and would recommend them.  Rating: 4.5/5

Website: westernlake.ca

Sharing is caring!