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City Temple of Shanghai - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
3755 Main StVancouver, BC V5V 3N8
Neighbourhood: Riley Park
(604) 879-2078
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Derek W. said: "Haiku Review: It's yummy, relaxed, comfortable, doesn't strive just is what it is. Are servers lazy? No, just relaxed, Jamaican style and attitude. Dominica Beef: perfection. Baked chicken wings: Yuck! Burnt to a crisp. Lighting is…" read more »
9 reviews for City Temple of Shanghai
9 reviews in English
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Review from Aris L.
6/20/2010
For the price, its quite worth for the food..
Try xiao long bao its good =) -
Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
9/17/2009
* I'm like Pavlov's dogs when it comes to XLB! *
Ok, so I read a positive review of xiao long bao by Claudia and I don't think. I just react by heading straight over to try them out!
This little hole in the wall has really friendly service. The kind woman that seems to run the place (and make the XLB up front in plain view) was really friendly and smiley.
I ordered the XLB as well as the spicy beef noodle soup.
The XLB were very nicely done. The folding was close to perfect (with just a slight hardened clump at the very top), the meat filling was of good quality, and the broth was packed with flavour. The vinegar came with slices of ginger that were a bit too sparse and small for my taste. The wrapper was translucent, yet held everything together without ripping when picking them up. Overall a very respectable XLB!
The broth of the soup was nice. It was not overly spicy, but they provided a small dish of chili sauce to spice it up to taste. The noodles were perfectly cooked and had a nice chew. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The beef was the only downside on this dish. It was not particularly tender and a bit too chewy for my taste. I much prefer the beef in a similar dish at Ningtu (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...). I have to say I also prefer the broth at Ningtu as it has the Sichuan peppercorns that numb your tongue slightly. I like that. In any case, this was a respectable job on the soup overall (minus the beef).
The XLB here are definitely better than those at Ningtu and I would put them on par with Wang's (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...) which is another Claudia recommendation for those that are trying to understand my Pavlovian response when she recommended another XLB!Listed in: Vancouver Chinese Food, Vanoodle, Engrish, Vancouver Dumplings, Thanks, Yelp!
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Review from Claudia L.
Burnaby, BC
9/17/2009 ROTD 4/27/2010
Where has this place been hiding from me all my life? You know it's Food Pervert approved when I've been back at the restaurant twice in one week.
If you don't speak English, just practice these words:
Yee Guh Shao Lung Bao (one order XLB aka Shanghai dumplings)
Sheh Sheh (thank you)
Repeat after me
Yee Guh Shao Lung Bao
Sheh Sheh
Okayyyy la, velly gooooood!
Randomly tucked away on a weird strip on the hipster side of Main street, this place may look plain and gross but lemme tell ya, it tastes friggin' delicious. Come here for a quick bite of dim sum or dinner if you love Shanghai food. They make their XLB fresh behind the counter and have other goodies as well
+ Vegetarian dumpling wrapped in clear "skin"
+ Damdam mien (noodles in soup with peanut sauce)
+ House special Shanghai beef noodle soup (not too spicey or too much MSG)
They even have my favourite kid combo of deep fried Chinese doughnut and heated sweet soya milk (which I used to call "white soup" -_- such Banana vocabulary). Unfortunately the soya milk isn't made fresh and it could be a major bonus if it was.
Nonetheless, you gotta check this place out and it's friendly Shanghainese owner lady who I absolutely adore. If you're intimidated by what to order just look around you and point at what all the Asians are eating, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.Listed in: A Banana's Guide
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Review from Raymond O.
Vancouver, BC
Cash only. FYI.
There is only one type of menu and pricing for lunch and dinner which makes this place very affordable.
They whip out some tasty, home-made dishes. It's a nice little hole in the wall that serves tasty Xiao Long Bao that are tasty, juicy and arrives piping hot.
I also tried the Fried Rice with salted pork and vegetables which is my favourite so far. This alone is enough as a all-in-one meal. But why stop there?
The Beef in Orange Peel sauce is a sweet and spicy dish that has thin meat slices that rests on a generous bed of perfectly cooked broccoli. There's just a good amount of heat and one that will definitely go perfectly with an order of steamed rice.
In between, I was nibbling on an order of Chinese Donuts which I always eat alongside a generous sprinkling of sugar especially if the donuts just arrive freshly fried. I don't think they make their own donuts because although it tasted good, it had a little bit stale texture that came back to life after having deep fried for an order.
The dishes are a little bit oily which you might as well be prepared to wash away with some hot tea.
But what makes this a place you'd want to come back to is the great service from what looks like a husband and wife team. Not being able to speak their language may be a difficulty, but they do have an English menu you can point to and when I went there they had a young server that is well versed in both languages and was more than helpful in making sure we were okay. -
Review from Debbie P.
2/17/2010
The xlb, baked version of the xlb and baked turnip cake were yummy. There are menus in English but it's a family operation where little English is spoken so bring a Chinese friend if possible.
The xlb skin was thicker than what I'm use to but after biting into it I discovered this melt in your mouth meat and broth combination that made up for the thicker skin. It was piping hot like I like it so do what I do and bite a small hole into the skin to let out some steam so it's not boiling in your mouth. -
Review from Anita C.
Vancouver, BC
6/1/2009 ROTD 6/9/2009
warning: could be a little tricky if you don't speak cantonese/mandarin as the "waitress" doesnt speak very much english.
Let's face it, for some who know, looking for a good authentic shanghai restaurant isn't as easy as if you lived in Richmond and when I found City Temple of Shanghai I was more than impressed.
Little mom and pop restaurant- and when I say that the pop is the cook and the mom is the "waitress" who is more than happy to serve you with her cute little smile.
ok, so here is what you need to order:
xio lóng bo : Shanghai Dumplings - dumplings steamed in a bamboo container. nice and hot but be careful of the soup broth inside! it's hot! dont forget to dip in the sauce they provide you with. (mixture of vinegar and sliced ginger) *thanks Marc for the obvious typo!!
(shng jin mán tou) Fried stuffed bun- The wraps of the buns are made of semi-fermented paste, and the stuffing is made of pork, shallot, ginger, soy, pepper, and sesame oil. The stuffed buns are put in rows in a big pan and fried, being sprayed with water several times during cooking. Finally, sesame and shallot are sprinkled on the buns, and then the wonderful Fried Stuffed Buns are prepared!
the following, i dont have the written chinese or ping yen for.. (sorry!)
hot and sour soup with crispy rice - hot and sour soup that you pour on top of dry puffed rice. so sooo soooo good!!
beef roll wrap - sliced beef wrapped in shanghai style pancake
Shanghai Style Fried Rice Cake - one of my favorites. i tend to forget what this is called and with my poor charades skill showing her "frying" she totally understood what i meant. It's a fried noodle that is oval in shape and flat with soy sauce and some veggies.
I think this would be an awesome starter menu for a group of 3-4. Best of all its not very expensive.. for all of the above it should cost about $30.Listed in: Anita's "budget" Food Tour…
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Review from Luisa D.
6/13/2010 4 photos
Thanks to the yelp reviews we decided to check this place out. So glad we did! There were only two of us so we couldn't try a lot of dishes but knew we had to taste the Shanghai Dumplings. Wow - glad we had the warning about the hot broth inside. I found the best method was to bite a little hole in the dumpling and suck out the super tasty broth first then eat the rest. Definitely dip it in the sauce they bring too!! The Tan Tan Noodles were the yummiest I've ever had. The spicy green beans were gobbled up by my man who doesn't really like green beans. We also had an order of pan-fried juicy dumplings. The dumpling was a little thicker and had the yummy broth and some sesame seeds on the bottom. $24 total with some green beans to go and two happy customers. Our server spoke perfect English although we were prepared (after reading reviews) to deal with a language barrier. She was busy but kept checking to make sure we liked everything. The older couple making the dumplings were sweet too. No hand towel in the washroom loses a star. Definitely my new favourite spot for dim sum.
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Review from Leroy L.
7/19/2010
Since reading they have good XLB's here, I've been meaning to give this place a try. My partner and I shared an order of Shanghai Dumplings(XLB's) and had a bowl of Tan Tan Noodles with Peanut Sauce each. Everything arrived at once, so we started with the Tan Tan Noodles while the XLB's cooled down. If you like Peanuts, you will love the Tan Tan Noodles! After we finished the noodles, we couldn't stop ourselves from getting every last drop of the peanut sauce short of licking the bowl. Being that we were XLB newbies we didn't have a basis for comparison, but we loved them! I'm glad we let them cool down a bit before eating because the amount of hot liquid inside would have scorched our mouths. The vinegar dip is nostalgic to me. My parents would use it as a dip for crab dishes they would cook at home. The prices are very reasonable and the service is friendly, but very slow if it's busy. Although City Temple of Shanghai is an unassuming hole in the wall, I'm glad we discovered it and we will be back!
Listed in: Mount Pleasant Haunts!
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Review from John H.
Vancouver, BC
10/5/2010
Confirmed they are now shutdown.,.
