Dinner at Golden Court Abalone Restaurant - Hits and Misses!!

[Charles Yu]

A couple of foodie relatives were visiting us from LA these past few days. With nothing really excels except for good Chinese food, our eating efforts had been primarily focusing on good Cantonese cuisine in the Richmond Hill / Markham area. After eating bouts at Maple Yip, Casa Victoria, O'Mei and the Emperor, we soon exhausted our usual list of favorites.

Tonight, based on recommendation from one of our family member, we decided to give Golden Court Abalone Restaurant on Hwy#7 a try. Famous for their Sharks Fin, Abalone and Banquet style dinner, I was however, a bit skeptical towards their ability to execute a slightly less extravagant 'family style' dinner.

Rather than scratching our heads over what to order, we left the menu decision to the owner Eric. For our party of 10, he proposed the following house specialties:

- Stirred fry boneless chicken wings with diced sugar cured preserved Chinese Mustard Greens ( Mui Choi ).

- Stirred fry green beans with spicy minced pork and whole fried BC oysters.

- Braised Ox-Tail Hot-Pot in a House Special tangy red wine sauce.

- Stuffed Fried Tofu with shredded crab meat egg-white sauce

- Sauteed, whole seared giant diver's scallops with mixed mushrooms presented in Hot-Pot.

- Sauteed Venison cubes with Teriyaki sauce and mixed vegetables.

- Stirred fry pork-neck meat with spicy Malaysian Belachan sauce.

All in all, the meal was a satisfactory and enjoyable one with most dishes reflecting the skill of the kitchen.

Stand out dish has to be the boneless chicken wings! Extremely delicious, the addictive sauce was perfect as a rice accompaniment. I would ranked this as one of my top dish of 2012,

Other dishes worthy of honorary mentioning was the Fried Stuffed Tofu ( the used of diced Chinese preserved sausages in the stuffing was a very nice touch ), the Green beans with Oysters ( a curious Cantonese / Shanghainese fusion that worked successfully ) and the seared scallops ( very good wok-hay with perfect execution of the scallops )

Disappointments include the over-cooked and tough venison cubes, (which, for some funny reason, shared the same taste as the scallops??!!), the mediocre tasting stirred fry pork-neck meat and the over-tangy ox-tail. Another negative experience pertained to the running out of all our requested vegetables!! Strange?! Since it was only 8.00 pm on a Saturday evening!!

Overall I would rate the cooking a touch below that of ' The Emperor '. Still, a more than decent and worthy dining destination in the Richmond Hill area!

[Charles Yu]

BTW, with complimentary soup and dessert as well as photos of two vegetable dishes not posted, this meal at $16 per person was a steal!

[chutchut]

I went to the restaurant with friends for dim sum before. I simply don't like their environment. The dim sum is also mediocre. Never wanted to go back and try for dinner.

[Charles Yu]

I don't think its realistic to base quality of dinner on a single dim sum experience!
The reverse can also be said as well! A fine example is Hong Kong's Michelin 3* Lung King Heen. Their Dim Sum are great but their dinner is only so-so for a Michelin star establishment!