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Ho Yuen Kee
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
6236 Fraser StreetVancouver, BC V5W 3A1
Neighbourhood: Sunset
(604) 324-8855
- Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 11 am - 11 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am - 12 am
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
28 reviews for Ho Yuen Kee
Review Highlights
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"if you can afford it, get the lobster rice." In 4 reviews -
"Don't forget the crab roe in the shell too." In 8 reviews -
"...and PRESERVED EGG & SALTED PORK CONGEE ($4.50), which were..." In 2 reviews
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28 reviews in English
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Review from Wendy Y.
11/9/2011
I've been to this restaurant over god-knows-how-many years and the two items that I always come back for are shrimp wonton soup (with egg noodles) and congee.
A lot of Chinese restaurants offer these two items but not too many can do as an authentic job as Ho Yuen Kee.
Their shrimp wontons are big and full of real shrimps. With every bite you can taste the sweetness of these underwater crustaceans. Every bite is "crunchy". That's the best way I can put it. If you know of a better adjective, do let me know.
When I eat my wontons I like to eat it with my own self-created dipping sauce. Here is my recipe - red vinegar, white pepper powder, and chili oil (not paste). Mix well and enjoy. I'd suggest you take a bite without the dipping first then try another bite with the dip. That way you get to taste first hand how much of a difference condiments can make. The combination of wonton and al dente egg noodles will make any bad day go away.
Congee = water + rice. To make these two common ingredients taste good, we are talking about serious cooking skills and years of kitchen experience. There are a lot of factors that go into a good pot of congee - heat/temperature, type of pot used, type of stove, and duration just to name a few. The outcome of a well cooked congee is "fluffy" and aromatic. Again, if you can come up with a better word than "fluffy" to describe congee, do share.
P.S. Their signature steamed lotus leaf lobster sticky rice is NOT to be missed. I think this one is only offered for dinner. You may need to call in ahead of time or pre-order. Do go with a group of minimum 3 people though. Since you are there, you may as well order a variety of dishes to feast on and share amongst your friends.Listed in: Chinese Food, Cantonese Food
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Review from Edward L.
Finally had a chance to try their famous winter melon soup.
This dish needs to be ordered a day in advance, because they literally cook the melon for 12h!
The waiter is quite skilled at cutting it up, and carving nice large slices of melon out of the soup. The soup is simply beautiful, with huge chunks of seafood and strips of pork. They do not skimp out. This dish can be ordered in 2 sizes. Guess they use different sized melons?
I also had their lobster with sticky rice. This dish is super delicious, but there's not quite enough rice to go around for our group of 6.
The other dish I got to try was chicken and jellyfish. There was a nice vinegary sauce, and the touch of cilantro added to the mix. This dish is super delicious.
You really can't go wrong with this place. Recommended.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/11/2012
There normally aren't too many places one can hit up in southern Vancouver during the evenings past… Read more »
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Review from Tony L.
3/26/2012
My girlfriend and I brought some of my Seattle friends to this restaurant on Saturday night. We were originally going to go to Sun Sui Wah for some king crab, but after finding out that the crab would cost around $30/lb, we canceled the reservations and headed to Ho Yuen Kee instead.
We had the lobster sticky rice (if you get this, definitely order it with the extra sticky rice), fried spicy crab. shredded chicken and jellyfish, beef with gai-lan, and Peking duck. I believe one of my friends said, "I can't eat Chinese food in Seattle after eating here." The dinner was really good, but a few things kept it from 5 stars (if judging just the food, I would have given it 4 1/2 stars):
- It was a busy night, so the service wasn't the greatest (I know, you don't expect great service in a Chinese restaurant).
- The server forgot our gai-lan order, and brought it towards the end of the meal (gai-lan for dessert I guess). However, the beef was very tender. In addition, the second course of the Peking duck came very late as well, as if they gave away our original order to someone else. I almost wished we could have skipped the second course.
Overall, this is a great option for good Chinese. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but the food is great. Also, I never have a problem finding parking here: you can always try the side streets since Fraser is pretty busy. -
Review from Florence C.
Vancouver, BC
3/21/2012
Yoo hoo.. This is the best profile picture for Ho Yuen Kee! I was brought to this place accidentally by a friend, we had simple dinner, nothing fancy but all was good. The next time I went back there to try the chef recommendation "Sticky crab rice", I was blown away. I'm sorry, bye bye western restaurants with boiled crab and butter. This is much closer to my satisfaction level after chili crab in Singapore. The meat is fleshy, and you can pick whichever live lobster you wish.
I never forget to order silken tofu pudding for dessert. This takes half hour so order early, they serve it fresh with ginger syrup, in a bamboo steamer. The only bad deal is that they are not that consistent. Sometimes the texture is oh so soft, sometimes it's a little rough. But I still love this place. -
Review from waisik m.
Burnaby, BC
5/22/2012
Key to success for restaurants? Consistency. And this place is not consistent.
Sure, we had our good meals here, and with good service. But lately, things have changed. Mostly on the service side.
Very short-sighted staff. They only worry about the present, and don't think much about the future. A returning customer is key, and they don't work on that. They rather risk offending a customer once over a mere few dollars. How unfortunate.
They do have good food, albeit a bit pricey for dinner (for what you get). Some dishes have good portion, and some don't (Did I mention the importance of consistency?).
I hope they'll improve soon. -
Review from Cody S.
2/3/2012 1 Check-in Here
I am glad I am hooked into the Chinese food scene in Vancouver. This is one of my favourite places to come. The service here is standard, order your food and get it soon!
The food is outstanding. The cold shredded chicken and jellyfish always stand out with me. It is one of the top 5 dishes I love in life. I could eat it as part of a meal every day of the week. The sui gao is fantastic. There is nothing like it. I also really like the congee here. I have become quite a fan of congee over the last decade and this place is one of the places that top it off.
Overall, the location doesn't advertise, "come here"...but, COME HERE! It is great. -
Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 12/19/2011 1 photo
* Consistently inconsistent *
It has been a long time since I FTRed this place about three years ago. So long in fact that I had stopped coming due to the inconsistencies. Seeing the range of excellent reviews recently I figured I would give it another try.
I was just in for lunch so just grabbed some beef chow fun. It is really a test dish for me at Cantonese restaurants as the wok skill (or lack thereof) is difficult to hide.
It was really just ok. The beef was tender and flavourful. The noodles were clumpy as they had not been properly separated before stir-frying. For many of the clumps there were as many as 4 or 5 flat noodles stuck together. This resulted in the sauce not getting into the noodles like it should and there being a white less cooked part inside of each clump. Not great. The outside of the noodle clumps also did not have any wok hei at all. They just didn't do this dish justice. Photo: http://www.yelp.ca/biz...
Service was a bit better than it used to be, with the exception of one really angry looking guy who thankfully didn't interact with me. He really seemed to be hating his job, and I'm guessing that all of the inconsistencies in the past come from some sort of management issue. I'm guessing the staff just isn't taken very good care of, and it shows in the service and product. Just a guess.Listed in: Vancouver Chinese Food, Vanoodle, Something fishy (hopefully…
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/5/2008 First to Review
Good midrange Cantonese cuisine. Try the various types of steamed crab as well as the ginger… Read more »
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Review from Kenneth E.
Vancouver, BC
1/26/2012 3 Check-ins Here
A classic standout Chinese resto here for many years, one of my dad's favourite for 'Sui Gao', super-sized shrimp wontons in a nice broth, if you're into it. Personally, I'm not a soup person unless it's ramen lol but I do hear others saying it's good.
My regular dish is the beef w/ egg sauce on flat noodles, quite a hearty meal, always hits the right spot.
And their sweet tofu in a bowl is also popular, just need to order when you sit down, takes a while.
Since I come here for lunch so frequently, never tried their dinner, but I do hear they're known for their Alaskan Crab.
Parking's pretty tough here on Fraser St., esp. during lunch hours.
thankfully, they've recently renovated in past year, so the washrooms are much more cleaner. -
Review from Ellen L.
12/11/2011
I was totally gonna give this place only a 3 star based on my dine-in experience. BUT! BUT BUT BUT! I just re-sampled the food that I took home... and OMG!!! Easily the best Cantonese style Chinese food I've ever had - well seasoned, dimensional flavour, and not greasy. Pity that I wasn't able to really appreciate the food at the restaurant, possibly due to how loud it was and busy worrying whether my companions are enjoying the food I ordered. -__-
(Mind you that I haven't been to places like Kirin for dinner, so can't compare to the more upscale places).
For 4 people we ordered the following, and had lots of leftovers to pack home:
Crab on Sticky Rice - crab is market price. We had a 3lb crab and the dish came to $54. The sticky rice was phenomenal - fragrant from the lotus leaf and there is a punch of flavour from the crab juice. However, I didn't really like how the crab was done. Just deep fried slightly and really no flavour in the meat - pshaw, my Mommy can do better than that. At least it was fresh though. Not entirely impressed with this "signature dish." Next time, will only order sticky rice.
Peking Duck - pre-order is needed for this one. So tender and juicy! But when it's a fatty duck, it's hard to go wrong. This is a winner.
Crab Meat & Fish Maw Soup - light and tangy coupled with the red vinegar. Didn't find any crab meat. Fish maw was... errrr.... interesting texture.
Salt & Pepper Prawns - very fresh prawns, otherwise fairly generic.
Beef with Chinese Broccoli (Gai-lan) - Beef pieces are tender. Vegetable not overcooked. Like.
Honey Garlic Pork - the downer of the bunch. Pork was very fatty and chewy. Blech.
Total came to $140 before tips. Not bad not bad. Service was overall efficient and attentive - our dirty dishes were changed no less than 5 times. This place has won Vancouver Magazine's Best Casual Chinese award before (and is the bronze winner in 2011). I can see why. -
Review from Herman E.
11/17/2011
One of the few Chinese restaurants that I am actually a fan of. This is for several reasons, of which the biggest is not too much MSG is used. I can actually sleep at night after eating dinner there, without my heart racing well into the middle of the night.
I've come here for over 10-12+ years, and have rarely been disappointed. Most of the times it was for lunch, but their dinner menu is very good also.
As mentioned by other posters, their signature dish is not to be missed. Crab/lobster over sticky rice. I concur.
Hot and sour soup- good
Steamed rock cod with soy and spring onions - good
Crispy skin chicken - good (not overly salty, unlike some other places)
Signature dish - excellent
Stir fried pea shoots with garlic - good
Cantonese style beef slices in tomato & onion sauce - good
Red bean dessert - good
Nothing was off, nor over-seasoned with MSG. -
Review from Alvin L.
Vancouver, BC
12/31/2011 5 photos
My family has been going to Ho Yuen Kee for dinner for many, many years now. Having eaten at most if not all of the Cantonese-style Chinese restaurants in the city, I can confidently say Ho Yuen Kee is one of the very best in its class. Constantly packed with hungry patrons, it is not uncommon to see a line stretching out the front door every weekday at dinner time. Although a fairly large restaurant compared to most, Ho Yuen Kee is one of the rare Chinese restaurants that has managed to maintain a very high level of quality on a consistent basis. In a city that has seen the closure of many prolific Cantonese restaurants in the past few years, their continued capacity to thrive in this city is a true testament of their culinary excellence.
If you have never been to Ho Yuen Kee, do not fear. I am going to quickly go through 4-5 dishes you MUST order the first time you go. The below dinner offers a fairly comprehensive and varied experience that should allow you to attest to Ho Yuen Kee's brilliance. First up on the menu: Lobster on rice. This dish is Ho Yuen Kee's pièce de résistance and a big reason many diners come to the restaurant every week. The dish may seem simple but actually is quite masterful. Upon your order, they will procure a 3-3.5 pound live lobster, allow you to inspect it and then immediately prepare it for your dining pleasure. After perfectly steaming the lobster in a large bamboo container heavy with fresh corn rice, the entire dish comes to your table steaming hot and smelling phenomenally aromatic. The tender, succulent pieces of lobster are waiting to be pried from tempting red shells resting on rice that is so, so fragrant. If this is the only dish you eat at HYK, you will not leave disappointed.
After the culinary joy that is the lobster on rice serving, you may think the evening is done. HA! Far from it my hungry friend! There are many many amazing dishes to be eaten. After the heavy rice dish, you may want to take a break with a lighter noodle dish. The Yi Mein at HYK is without contest one of the best in the city. Although many restaurants try to make Yi Mein, very few places seem to get the perfect texture/tenderness in the noodles. Additionally, the amount of sauce is very important as the 'mein' type is very absorbent. Add too much or too little sauce and the Yi Mein will either drown or be too dry. A relatively simple noodle dish but one that is incredibly difficult to serve perfectly.
After polishing off the Yi Mein, the remaining three dishes are meant to be eaten with a few bowls of white rice. A favorite of mine is the bak choy/mushroom/giant soft tofu combo. The beef and broccoli dish is also very good, with a generous amount of melt-in-your-mouth beef on fresh, properly steamed broccoli. Lastly, the honey spareribs cannot be passed up as they are simply divine. Served piping hot and sinfully sweet, the honeyed pork slides off the bone with little to no manual effort. Throw all of these three dishes together with few heaping bowls of rice and you have a second dinner right there.
Well that is all folks! Lobster on rice, Yi Mein and three fantastic support dishes with white rice. Although the photos may look small, please note the portions are quite AMPLE and can serve a half dozen large eaters quite competently. I would recommend going to Ho Yuen Kee with at least 5-6 people to guarantee a plethora of yummy dishes without leftovers. Check this restaurant out if you have not already and as always, leave me a comment and let me know how your meal went. Happy eating! -
Review from Justin L.
8/14/2011 6 photos
Some mornings I wake up and crave wonton noodle soup. Since I generally don't get to act on such impulses immediately, they build up over a few days until I can take it no more. Then I go to Ho Yuen Kee.
In addition to a bowl each of SLICED FISH CONGEE ($5.75) and PRESERVED EGG & SALTED PORK CONGEE ($4.50), which were both fantastic (it's comforting like, um, mashed potatoes or spaghetti and meatballs for other people), we ordered CHILI MINCED PORK ON NOODLES, which was served with a bowl of broth and cooked lettuce. The meat sauce was spot on and the thin noodles were phenomenal. Since we were a group of four, our waiter suggested we order a bowl of WONTONS IN SOUP ($4.95; more wontons, no noodles) so that we could each have more wontons. Good suggestion! And, folks, these wontons might as well have been har gao in soup, because they were packed with two prawns each! Delicious.
Our elderly friend wanted the restaurant's signature dish, LOBSTER ON RICE ($56.45 for a 2.5-pound crustacean). Of course it was good, and you get the entire lobster chopped up into smaller, manageable pieces, but I found the meat to be rather chewy and the sticky rice not sticky enough. Furthermore, seasoned as it was with corn kernels, chives, and some tobiko, the flavor of the rice kept reminding me of the flavoring in Mr. Noodle instant noodle cups. Go test it out for yourself: have Mr. Noodle the night before; then go to Ho Yuen Kee. Tell me I'm wrong.
But we had an altogether lovely meal and we all ate way too much. I'd go back for the wontons, noodles, and congee any day.Listed in: Vancouver: Chinese
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Review from AhLin C.
4/8/2011
We had the Dungeness Crab over sticky rice and I'm a fan. I keep raving about it to everyone who asked me about my trip to Vancouver.
We tried 1-2 other dishes and they were just average. It's not cheap. The bill came out to be about $80 Canadian dollars. The crab over sticky rice is quite expensive, but also worth it. I mean, we were on vacation.
Next time, I'm getting the Lobster over rice. -
Review from Annie M.
Vancouver, BC
I came back here for congee and noodle again. I found the congee was much better than last time.
Preserved egg with dry oyster and pork congee was so tasty and the pork liver, stomach and meat ball just ok.
House special chow mein was crunchy and good, just a bit oily and salty.
Steamed egg white with ginger sauce - Smooth, sweet and delicious1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/10/2010
We always come here for quick and causal dinner. In this area, I guess they're the best one. The… Read more »
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Review from Emily L.
Vancouver, BC
4/16/2009
I usually come here when I'm craving Chinese food late at night or when I'm in the area.
Food: One of the better restaurants serving authentic Chinese food. I highly recommend Sweet and Sour Pork with Fruit (lightly breaded pork deep fried to perfection with a tangy red sweet and sour sauce with some fruits such as lychee and melon), congees (hot with fresh ingredients) and wonton noodle soup (wontons are generously sized with fresh shrimp). I also really like the tea they serve; I think it's some kind of lychee tea (a delicate and fragrant tea). After 9pm, they have late night specials where they serve smaller sized portions so you can try even more dishes!
Ambiance: typical Asian restaurant...usually not too loud since it's not a very big restaurant. There are tables and booths. It's pretty comfortable.
Price: Dishes (like Sweet and Sour Pork) are usually between $9-12. Congees and Noodle soups are usually $6-7. Late night specials are usually $4-6 and are usually half the size of regular dishes.
Make reservations when you are thinking of going to the late night special on weekends; it is usually full! -
Review from Thy R.
3/3/2010
Thanks to my friend, he took us here for lunch.
My friend told us that he thinks this place has the best congee that he tried. We drove from downtown Vancouver just to come here.
I would say, we are the only group there who doesn't speak Mandarin - thanks to our friend who did order everything for us ha!
To make everything interesting, our friend secretly ordered us a congee with century egg. Yup, he was very surprised, we really liked it. It was awesome.
I wish they have this kind of Cantonese restaurant in Seattle. Great experience. -
Review from Stephen H.
8/18/2009
We came here by recommendation from Bay Area family friends who often fly to Vancouver JUST for the Chinese food. These friends are bona fide connoisseurs so I came in with high expectations...
...all of which were met by the Crab Rice! Ordering it alone was an event, with the cook coming out with the live crab dangling in front of us. My dad took a claw and spent five minutes taking pictures with it before we approved it for cooking.
20-30 minutes later, we had the monstrous thing on our plates. 5 minutes later, it was nearly all gone. I really have no recollection of what else we ordered because this was so good. The crab was succulent, the rice just moist and flavorful enough, and the seasonings just mouthwatering.
High five, Ho Yuen Kee! -
Review from Ernesto G.
6/6/2010
Great Lobster Rice!
Lobster on a bed of rice with corn and tobiko. Yum.
End off your dinner with ginger steamed milk. You won't regret coming here.
Note: free parking everywhere. -
Review from David L.
8/11/2010
Ho Yuen Kee's signature dish is their cold shredded chicken with jellyfish and sesame seeds. I am not crazy about jellyfish, but I must say they make best tasting dish with jellyfish in it. I recommend it and it's like a big huge salad! Really interesting texture too. Their ginger custard was quite overpowering with the taste of ginger. It was served hot . I'll order it if you like ginger. I wasn't blown away by any other of their dishes, but this is a solid Chinese restaurant with dishes that are reasonably priced. Portions are pretty large too!
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Review from Wendy C.
West Vancouver, BC
4/3/2011
Came here during king crab season with friends. Delicious delicious delicious.
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Review from food-voice l.
Vancouver, BC
1/5/2011
Haven't had crab for little while, I like crab but its very mess in eating it. But today I decided to go to Ho Yuen Kee on Fraser and 46th for their famous crab or lobster with sticky rice. I had that at this restaurant sometime ago, my memory tells me that I wasn't too happy about the dish, may be that's why I haven't been back for long time. Anyway, after todays crab dinner, I still not happy about it. Because they are not traditional prepared (cooked) the dish properly. The proper way to cook this dish is to individual cook the rice in a bamboo basket and just before the rice is ready cook; put the prepared crab on top of the rice, so the rice will absorb the juice from the crab. But at Ho Yuen Kee, it appears they cook the rice and the crab separately, after they cook the crab and mix the rice with the crab and separate it before serve. That why the bamboo basket is not steamy hot and the rice like regular fried rice. But I must give them the credit of honesty, they show you crab and tell you how much it weights before cook it. (Not like the Ken's Chinese Restaurant on Kingsway, Vancouver, they don't show you the crab weather it live or death, and give you small crab and charged 2.5 .lbs for just over a lb small crab)
Despite the way they prepared the dish, it's quite tasty; I have no hesitation recommend to other. They have a very good choice and variety of items in their menu and it all looks very attractive and price seems to be very reasonable.
Most of the good Chinese restaurant when serving crab or lobster, they always give you a bowl of tea or warm water with lemon to clean your figures, that's what they called "figure bowl". It's silly and misleading to call it a "soup" or use to "dilute the flavor of the crab" by some food reviewers. -
Review from r f.
Coquitlam, BC
4/10/2011
Ok food, nice for a change.
We went for a late Saturday afternoon lunch and the place was packed. The menu and service was not excellent for non-Chinese speaking customers. Food was OK. -
Review from Debbie P.
9/19/2010
If you're craving Hong Kong style steamed lobster rice then you've found your place. The fresh lobster is steamed in a dim sum style bamboo steamer with rice, corn and surprisingly a tapioca like sauce. The rice comes out with a sticky consistency and pairs perfectly with the perfectly steamed lobster.
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Review from Steph L.
4/7/2010 1 photo
With so many recent immigrants from Hong Kong ,Vancouver is known for its ubiquitous, delicious, innovative, and authentic Chinese food. In fact, I would even go so far as to say this city has the best Chinese food outside of Asia. Ho Yuen Kee is a shining example of this.
There is one main reason why I would choose Ho Yuen Kee over the many other Chinese restaurants in the area - their STEAMED CRAB WITH STICKY RICE (http://www.yelp.com/bi...). Every time I come here I HAVE to order it. As with any Chinese restaurants, they bring out the crab for you to "approve" before it gets cooked. They're priced by the pound. They average ~2.5 lbs and so the dish usually cost no more $40 (a good deal since it feeds so many). I believe the crab is first fried (Chinese style). They cover it with a sauce that seasons the crab just right. It's then served in a large bamboo steamer over a bed of sticky rice on a lotus leaf. The sticky rice is arguably the best part of the dish. It's flavourful and has amazing textures - chewy sticky rice and crunchy corn niblets for the perfect contrast (the corn also adds a subtle sweetness). I could eat this every single day. Don't forget the crab roe in the shell too! *drools*
They also make the best "DOUBLE-BOILED MILK CUSTARD WITH GINGER" I've had in the city. They're made to order so they always come out piping hot, and you can really tell the difference in texture between a freshly made steamed milk custard and one that's reheated after sitting in the refrigerator. They definitely don't skimp out on the ginger juice either. I'm craving one just writing about it...
Other notable dishes are their hand-shredded chicken with salt and pepper and their daily soup. I come here with my mom and we always order the soup. It's a little big for two people but we always manage to finish it. Haven't tried many of the other dishes since the four I've mentioned are plenty for my mom and I, and I refuse to NOT order these whenever I come. -
Review from Amy P.
Vancouver, BC
6/21/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Good seafood selection. Decent service despite being busy all the time. Agreed must try Dungness crab/ Lobster over sticy rice. If you want to know what's fresh just ask the waiter. They often have good recommendation off the menu. It's slightly pricey but yummmmm
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Review from Katy N.
3/17/2009
My family loves this restaurant more than Sun Sui Wa and they have this "steamed lobster on gluttony rice" - YUMO & plenty of other scrumptious dishes :)
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Review from M L.
8/6/2009
I went to this restaurant in dec 08 with my bf and his family. Scrumptious crab rice, it's pretty darn tasty! Definitely hard to find in the US. Nothing goes wrong here, we ordered so many dishes, they were ALL beyond expectations!
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Review from Jeff M.
Vancouver, BC
9/29/2010
really good chinese food for east side of vancouver. if you can afford it, get the lobster rice. it is heavenly. their oyster dishes are fantastic as well.
