I’ve never heard of Chinese Sauerkraut Fish before until I stumbled upon it on someone’s Insta account. I’m always game for Szechuan so we decided to give them a try when we were in Richmond. They specialize in one dish; you guessed it, fish sauerkraut.
Hours and sign outside.
We dropped in on a Sunday evening (around 6:30pm) and were shocked to find it completely packed. We put our names down and waited for about 45 minutes for a table to open up.
The inside is spacious and is split into two seating areas; the table booths that they have are comfortable and luxurious. Service is typical but lacking; they forgot to bring out one of our sides and didn’t refill our tea cups.
The menu is small; literally, the only thing you’re ordering here is their speciality (small, large and the feaster option) but there’s also starters, sides, vegetables, rice & noodles and drinks.
Click here to see the menu (1 and 2).
Fish belly ($7.99)
M’s friend suggested we try this but for some reason, she couldn’t describe what it was. We gave it a try; it’s smoked fish jerky. We’d actually ate something similar the weekend before at a Shanghainese spot. This one was more bonier so it wasn’t as enjoyable to eat. Skip it.
Chinese sauerkraut fish ($39.99 small)
This easily fed the three of us. We also added wide starch noodles ($3.99) which were wide, flat glassy noodles. Good bite but you don’t get much of them.
Broth was tantalizing as you get sour and spicy with a touch of numbness. The heat comes from the Sichuan green peppercorns and dried red chili peppers while sour tones are from the pickled mustard greens.
Fish was flaky, soft and tender.
Rice ($2.25)
The rice goes well with the soup but it’s the dinkiest portion I’ve seen for the price.
Plain noodle ($1.99)
If we were to come back, we’d stick with adding 2-3 bowls of noodles. Does the trick.
Chinese donuts ($4.99)
These are a must! I normally don’t love these but it went perfectly with the soup. They soak up the flavour brilliantly but still retain their crunchy bite.
CSF is worth a try if you want try something completely different; spicy, sour fish.
Chinese Sauerkraut Fish
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chinese-Sauerkraut-fish/
#101, 4940 Number 3 Road
Richmond, BC
(604) 303-0490
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 