I was craving Shanghainese food so we decided to check out Dinesty Dumpling House’s location on Robson for a quick Sunday lunch. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait too long for a table but there was a constant flow of people coming in and out of the restaurant.
We were able to watch the kitchen work their XLB/dumplings magic though. No wonder XLB’s are delicious – they make every single one by hand. Clichés don’t lie, everything tastes better with the human touch.
The menu is massively long but we decided to order with a Shanghainese theme in mind. Love, love, love when restaurants put up pictures of their food. I guess that’s what you get when you have four locations in just the Vancouver area.
Xiao long bao ($5.95)
6 deliciously steamed pork dumplings. Look how plump and succulent they look. ‘nough said, they were bomb.
Steamed chicken dumpling ($6.95)
First time I’ve had chicken XLB’s but they tasted similar to the pork dumplings. The more, the merrier!
Pan fried pork dumplings ($3.95)
These were awesome. Juicy, tender, melt in your mouth pork buns. Pan frying bumped it to another level. We definitely should have ordered another round of these bad boys.
Pan fried shrimp and pork pot stickers ($7.95)
The addition of shrimp made these pot stickers really delicious (or we may just have had an overload of pork in our other dishes). As you can see, super crispy and delicious.
Pan fried chinese green onion pancake ($3.95)
Light, not greasy, crispy. Everything you desire in a pancake. Carb overload yezzir.
Shredded duck in tofu wrap ($4.95)
We wouldn’t order these again as there wasn’t much flavour in them and the filling was pretty stingy. Skip it.
Stir fried rice cake Shanghai style ($8.95)
They overdid it with the soya sauce meaning it was a bit too salty for our tastebuds. A lady beside us ate a whole plate of this to herself so that’s saying something…
Spicy string beans with minced pork ($12.95)
There’s something about dem green beans. Always perfect – crunchy on the outside but soft and tender once you bite into it. The minced pork was a nice addition.
Tasty spot to get your XLB fix. They have several cheap lunch specials but what I really liked at Dinesty was their ordering system. They tape your order onto the table and then proceed to cross off each dish item as it arrives (with their nail). Absolutely genius. My parents went back a second time so that’s saying something.
Dinesty Dumpling House (Robson)
http://dinesty.ca/
1719 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 669-7769
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 