Chow down on Chinese best

by Stephen Wong on March 23rd, 2006 at 9:00 AM

The takeout menu at Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House on Main Street-numbered for your convenience-tops out at 288 dishes. They could probably have gone on, but 288 is an auspicious number (it means "double prosperity"), so they stopped there, presumably for luck.

Though not always quite so prodigious, Chinese restaurants are notorious for huge menus that read more like compendiums of modern Chinese cuisine than what a menu should be: a list of dishes that showcase what their chefs do best with available ingredients. I have no doubt that this shotgun approach is taken with the best of intentions-to provide variety-but too many choices can quickly turn into vexing tyranny even for the most experienced diners.

To help you navigate the vast menu of Chinese food in this city, I humbly offer my personal 10 favourite dishes and where you should seek them out.

> Live Alaskan King Crab This is a limited-time offer, as the season will wind down in the next two weeks or so. Typically priced by the pound in restaurants, an eight- to 10-pounder is a memorable feast for six to eight of your best friends. At Sun Sui Wah (3888 Main Street, 604-872-8822), each crab is prepared in two acts: the legs are steamed with garlic, then the body meat is deep-fried with spiced salt and chilies. To finish, ask them to toss some rice stick noodles into the garlicky pan juices. Order a dish of XO sauce on the side if you like your noodles a bit spicy, and season to taste.

> Baby Bok Choy Spring is the season to eat your greens, and there is no better time than now to be introduced to these thumb-size delicacies. Stir-fried in garlic or lightly braised in stock, they are unbeatable at Long's Noodle House (4853 Main Street, 604-879-7879). A dainty crock of wine-marinated chicken (with its traditional Shanghai presentation) and a dish of Lion's Head meatballs stuffed with egg yolk in a rich brown sauce will complete an outstanding, inexpensive dinner for two.

> Nanking-Style Salted Duck If you like duck confit you'll love this velvety, brine-poached Northern Chinese appetizer. Perfectly seasoned and scented with fagara, the version at SunLock Garden (4298 Fraser Street, 604-879-4298) is topnotch. Crispy-skinned and savoury, the spicy fried duck is similarly spiced and also excellent, as is the whole smoked duck, which requires ordering a day ahead.

> Satay Beef with Flat Rice Noodles Tender sliced beef and crunchy gailan, in a rich, spicy, peanutty sauce topping a bed of flat rice noodles, is just one among a host of authentic Chiu Chow-style dishes offered at the no-frills VIP's Kitchen (1487 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, 604-925-1811). Five spice-scented poached duck and oyster omelettes are also true-blue and worth the trek across the Narrows.

> Braised Pork Belly Melt-in-your mouth tender and napped with a silky brown sauce, this classic Shanghai specialty at Green Village (2461 Nanaimo Street, 604-258-9018) will put you in pork lovers' heaven. Their stuffed, boneless eight-jewelled duck and braised whole pork hock are centrepiece enticements for further visits.

> Golden Garlic Dungeness Crab Chili-fried and tossed in a mound of crisp, golden garlic chips, this dish is a guaranteed conversation stopper at Ho Yuen Kee (6236 Fraser Street, 604-324-8855). For ideal results, splurge on a large specimen (three pounds and up). You won't regret it. Steamed sablefish in black-bean sauce, beef in oyster sauce and gailan-they do so many dishes well here.

> Scrambled Eggs with Prawns Fluffy, creamy, studded with sweetly crunchy prawns or river shrimp and yellow Chinese chives, excellent versions of this Chinese omelette extraordinaire can be found at Ho Tak Kee (236 East Broadway, 604-876-7755), Congee Noodle House (141 East Broadway, 604-879-8221), and the aforementioned Ho Yuen Kee.

> Top Tofu dishes The Ma Po Tofu, spiced in classic Sichuan style with fagara and pepper instead of the ubiquitous chili-bean sauce, is a good reason to rediscover the Grand View Szechuan, now located at 4181 Fraser Street (604-879-8885). But the picture-perfect, custard-textured soft tofu at Silver Palace (6520 Fraser Street, 604-321-4448), encased in a golden, thin bread crumb-like crust, gets my vote for peak tofu experience this year.

> Last word on ducks Prize for best Peking duck and, bar none, best flatbread wrappers goes to Kirin Mandarin (102-1166 Alberni Street, 604-682-8833). Best barbecued duck: Kam Gok Yuen (142 East Pender Street, 604-683-3822). Best takeout barbecued duck: Money BBQ & Fresh Meat Co. (6457 Fraser Street, 604-321-3899).

> Hainanese Chicken Rice It's Chinese-inspired and absolutely fabulous, so it makes the list: boneless, tender, silken chicken with a luminous dip of sambal, green onion, and ginger, and lovely chicken stock-infused rice at Café D'Lite (3144 West Broadway, 604-733-8882; welcome back: we missed you). Mui Garden's (4265 Main Street, 604-872-8232) bone-in version comes in a close second.