Western Lake Restaurant on Victoria Drive is one of the most popular dim sum spots in Vancouver. And while they are known primarily for dim sum, their dinner service is also not be missed. To celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, Western Lake has a special Mid-Autumn Dinner featuring King Crab and Peking Duck. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in Chinese culture as a time of gathering and thanksgiving; this year it is happening on October 4. This past week, I had the pleasure of attending a media tasting of this magnificent feast at Western Lake Restaurant.
The Mid-Autumn Festival Dinner is priced at $668 + tax for 10 people. It consists of the following:
- Crispy Peking Duck Skin with Crepes
- Duck Meat with Lettuce Wraps
- King Crab Legs Steamed with Garlic
- Shredded Duck Meat Soup with Dried Scallops
- King Crab In Supreme Soy Sauce Bedded with Rice Cake Or Spicy King Crab Bedded with Vermicelli
- Diced Beef Tenderloin with Deep Fried Milk Puffs
- Dried Scallops Braised with Pea Tips and Enoki Mushrooms
- Sautéed and Deep-Fried Sole Fillet
- Egg Whites Fried Rice with Dried Scallops Or Baked Rice with Seafood
- Tossed Noodle with Crab Sauce
- Baked Tapioca Pudding with Taro
- Mooncake
To start, we were presented with the live King Crabs which would soon become the main features of our dinner.
The Crispy Peking Duck Skin with Crepes were a wonderful start to the meal. The meat was tender while the skin was wonderfully crispy.
This was followed by a course of Duck Meat with Lettuce Wraps. I quite liked the dragonfruit garnishes which added some colourful accents. The duck meat stir-fry was flavourful and tasty.
The King Crab Legs steamed with Garlic were certainly garlicky! I appreciated that the King Crab pieces were pre-cut such that it was easy to extract the meat.
The Shredded Duck Meat Soup with Dried Scallops was hearty, warm and comforting.
Next up, a few more King Crab dishes: King Crab in Supreme Soy Sauce Bedded with Rice Cake and Spicy King Crab Bedded with Vermicelli. Both dishes showcased a fried preparation of King Crab with a starch (rice cake, vermicelli). I enjoyed the spicy King Crab just a bit more because of the subtle heat to it.
One dish that was meat-focused but not King Crab or Peking Duck was the Diced Beef Tenderloin with Deep Fried Milk Puffs.
And for some vegetable goodness loaded with tons of earthy mushroom flavours, there was the Dried Scallops Braised with Pea Tips and Enoki Mushrooms. This was a very comforting dish with tons of sauce.
The Sautéed and Deep-Fried Sole Fillet was wonderfully tender and had a very crispy batter on the outside.
The signature rice dish was the Egg Whites Fried Rice with Dried Scallops.
For the signature noodle dish, there was the Tossed Noodle with Crab Sauce.
To finish off a fantastic meal, we indulged in Mooncake with an artistically sliced pomelo. The mooncake is reason enough to come and try this menu – it’s that good! If you can’t make it here for whatever reason, you might want to consider that you can buy mooncakes with free delivery at Emicakes.com.sg. They really do taste as good as they look.
And some warm Baked Tapioca Pudding with Taro as well.
Overall Impression
All in all, I found the Western Lake Mid-Autumn Festival Dinner very delicious with impressive portions and great value. I recommend gathering a group of friends and family to enjoy this. For more information, visit www.westernlake.ca
Western Lake Restaurant
Address: 4989 Victoria Dr, Vancouver, BC
Website: www.westernlake.ca