Location: Hakkasan Contemporary Chinese Cuisine   
110 – 2188 No. 5 Road
Richmond BC
604-273-9191

It was such a nice break from work. There are the four of us from work who like to explore new restaurants during our lunch break. Needless to say, all of us are foodies. We usually pick a day that fits our schedule, then we will wait with anticipation. When the day finally comes, we will talk about food the whole way – before, during and endlessly after we eat. I have to tell you, lunches with these foodies is the best part of my work day

Hakkasan was recommended to us by another coworker. I heard the name and immediately I assumed it to be a Japanese restaurant. The worse is, I still didn’t clue in after seeing menu items such as “foie gras spring rolls”. Yes, sometimes I can be so clueless even when it’s about food! I have to also admit, Hakkasan is one of the very few Chinese fusion restaurants that I’ve tried.

The restaurant’s ambience was excellent. It was clean, neat and casually comfortable. When I hear fusion I immediately thought of small serving sizes, pretentious servers and a smoky club-like setting. The food at Hakkasan was down to earth. Some dishes, like the preserved veggie pork patty burger, gave me a good surprise. All in all, some dishes at Hakkasan were innovative and they are worth a try.

Okay, in case you don’t realize by now, I’m kind of a foie gras freak. When I see the word “foie gras” on the menu, 90% of the time I would order it. This one was foie gras wrapped and deep fried in a spring roll. What surprised me even more was instead of minced meat, there were small bits of Chinese dried sausage inside. Although the foie gras taste was not strong, I could still taste it. The taste of the sausage came out much stronger. I think the sausage overpowered the foie gras. Despite this, I really like this spring roll. I think I can have 2 or 3 in one shot.

Share on Facebook

We ordered a set lunch which came with an appetizer and entree. The foie gras was an add-on. The appetizer was a choice of salad and soup, with a beef and enoki mushroom wrap. I found the appetizers tasted ordinary.

A gf had a curry chicken with rice.

Another gf had Hakka salty chicken rice. We were expecting the chicken in this dish to be free range chicken. The chicken was really well seasoned but the meat was a little soft. It also lacked the intense chicken flavour which free range chicken has. My gf was happy with this dish though. She loved the rice as well.

The two of us had their innovative dish – burger with preserved veggie and pork patty.

The preserved veggie and pork patty when eaten alone, is a comfort dish that many Chinese people such as myself grew up with. Traditionally, the patty is steamed in a deep dish and the patty is eaten with rice. The preserved veggie takes away the oiliness of the pork and this aspect makes them the perfect combination.

I’m happy to see this dish being turned into a burger. Using “man dou”, or steamed rice bun, as the burger is another invention of its own. Kudos to this dish.

The only thing which all of us didn’t like was the shrimp chips. It tasted staled.

All of us were full after the appetizer and main, but we couldn’t resist ordering the lava cake when we saw it on the menu. This was served warm and the cake was light, with a runny center. It was a very good piece of cake to end the meal.

The creme brulee was different than what we are used to. The “creme” was watery and we guess water was used into making the “creme” instead of full fat milk or cream. Personally I like it a creamy creme brulee, but my gf liked it because it tasted very light.

Steamed milk custard. This was an excellent dessert. I was amazed by the smooth and silk texture of the custard. The best part is it was not overly sweet. Very well done.