Target 2: Golden Ocean
Address: 2008 W 41st Ave (map)
Phone: 604-263-8886
Prices:
Small – $3.10
Medium – $4.35
Large – $4.95
Kitchen – $6.70
Visit date: February 2nd, 2008
Visit time: 11:00 AM
–ratings–
Jason’s ratings –
Steamed dumplings: 85% or 29.75 of 35 possible points
Steamed other: 80% or 12/15
Fried & deep fried: 70% or 10.5/15
Baked & sweet: 80% or 12/15
Rice-noodle-veg: 80% or 8/10
Other factors (service, atmosphere, etc): 80% or 8/10
Jason’s total: 80.25/100
Des’ ratings –
Steamed dumplings: 85% or 29.75/35
Steamed other: 75% or 11.25/15
Fried & deep fried: 85% or 12.75/15
Baked & sweet: 85% or 12.75/15
Rice-noodle-veg: 80% or 8/10
Other factors (service, atmosphere, etc): 75% or 7.5/10
Des’ total: 82/100
Total Score (averaged across both raters, all variables) = 81.125/100
—
Notes from Jason:
Golden Ocean, an upstairs eatery on 41st in Kerrisdale, can be a bit hard to find without a lot of visible signage, but when you do it’s well worth the search. We had a delightful meal here in the last meeting of our “Dim Sum Sundays” group. For me, the mark of a good dim sum restaurant lies with the classics, or in other words, the siu mai and har gao. Both were better at Golden Ocean than at Sun Siu Wah, the shrimp being sweet and succulent, and both dumplings encompassed by a barely-there wrapper. I also liked that Golden Ocean provided a few sauces (hot sauce and mustard) without us asking, and a fine chili oil after we asked.
The other steamers weren’t quite as good, especially a merely decent curry squid and an okay order of chicken feet. I was more interested in a stir-fried leafy vegetable dish, something I would never order on my own; it was perfectly cooked to impart flavor but not ruin its texture. We rounded out the meal with a orders of a perfectly passable coconut jelly and some kind of mango jello.
If I had one major complaint with Golden Ocean, it’d be the outwardly rude (but efficient) hostess. But given the rest of the service was fast and friendly, it’s hard to hold a grudge. In this admittedly inchoate Smackdown, Golden Ocean is the best of the lot.
4 responses so far ↓
1 chowman // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I recall dining at this spot 20 years ago (was it really the late 1980s?)when it was called the Miramar. The breadth of selection was not overwhelming, but I recall that the service was polite.
2 Jason // Feb 14, 2008 at 1:39 am
Damn Chowman you’ve been around. 20 years ago I barely knew what dim sum was.
3 Here I Sit // Feb 19, 2008 at 1:35 pm
As a 7-year-Kerrisdale-dweller, this used to be one of my all time favorite Chinese restaurants, but that’s until my family got a taste of something we liked better.
It’s a shame I’d never tried chicken feet,which happends to be my dad’s favorite dish in the whole world. The closest I ever got around was licking off the sauce off the feet.
It seems like you had missed some of the most well-hidden, yet profound dishes there, which only the regular goers in the neighbourhood would be able to pick out. I mean the steamed vegetable and the usual sets of steamed and fried dimsos don’t hurt you but I find that once you’ve tried the popular dishes, unless you leap into something more exotic, your taste stays mediocre and that doesn’t really lead you anywhere.
I wish you’d tried their fried shrimp wrapped up in seeweed, and the tapioca-red-bean pudding: these were the dishes that made me love the place.
4 Jason // Feb 20, 2008 at 10:46 am
wow, i do wish i had known of these specialties a few weeks ago!
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