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Target 4: Floata Seafood Restaurant
Address: 618 Quebec Street #202 (map)
Phone: 604-630-1022
Homepage

Visit date: February 24th, 2008
Visit time: 11:00 AM

–ratings–

Jason’s ratings –

Steamed dumplings: 60% or 21 of 35 possible points
Steamed other: 75% or 11.25/15
Fried & deep fried: 70% or 10.5/15
Baked & sweet: 75% or 11.25/15
Rice-noodle-veg: 65% or 6.5/10
Other factors (service, atmosphere, etc): 80% or 8/10

Jason’s total: 68.5/100 or 68.5%

Des’ ratings –

Steamed dumplings: 65% or 22.75/35
Steamed other: 70% or 10.5/15
Fried & deep fried: 75% or 11.25/15
Baked & sweet: 70% or 10.5/15
Rice-noodle-veg: 65% or 6.5/10
Other factors (service, atmosphere, etc): 70% or 7/10

Des’ total: 68.5/100 or 68.5%

Total Score (averaged across both raters, all variables) = 68.5/100 or 68.5%
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Notes from Des:

Proudly calling itself Canada’s biggest Chinese restaurant (seating 1,000) and located at the heart of Chinatown, Floata (Fu da) was an obvious choice for our Dim Sum Smackdown. It being so large, we didn’t make a reservation, but arriving at our usual early-ish time of 11am, it was already close to filling up.

Floata’s dim sum mainly come served on carts that wheel their way through its huge space. I wondered how a single cart could complete the circuit and satisfy all customers, but a steady and varied stream of dim sum rolled past, supplemented by special dishes carried by waiters on trays. As is our wont, we went for a variety of steamed, fried, and baked dim sum to see what the big place had to offer.

Unfortunately the classic steamed shrimp (har gau) and pork (siu mai) dumplings were both somewhat disappointing. The shrimp dumpling’s pastry was too sticky, so that the individual dumpling’s encasing clung to its neighbours and was torn upon chopstick selection. And neither were the shrimp pieces within as tasty as their fellows at other smackdown targets. The pork in the siu mai was sub-par too. Other steamed dumplings we sampled partly made up for these shortcomings, at least for their variety: chive, spinach, and pumpkin and cilantro dumplings. The latter especially were a fine balance of vegetable, herb, and pork/shrimp filling, though the filling in all was a little on the bland side. The xiaolongbao lacked soup and the pastry was stodgy. Although we weren’t expecting the wonders of some of our Shanghai stops, it was definitely below par.

When ordering dim sum off the cart, one should try to see how many portions of an item remain and whether they are fresh out of the kitchen; sorry-looking, solitary items that have been doing the laps unwanted should be avoided. We may have slipped on this in ordering the BBQ Pork Steam Rice Roll (char siu cheung fun) because its rice pastry had started to dry and was clinging to its filling and starting to congeal. By contrast, the Mini Sticky Rice Wrap was piping hot, the sticky rice moistly fragrant wrapping tender shreds of mushroom and slivers of cured meat.

Among other offerings, we enjoyed the Spicy Deep Fried Tofu, the fried daikon cake (lor bak ko), and the Deep fried pork dumplings –(ham shui gok). The Deep Fried Taro Dumplings (wu gok) were less well done, with some unusual vegetable appearing in the filling. The steamed ribs were tender enough, though lacking in flavour – not at all spicy. The Steamed Chicken Buns were fairly tasty although there was also some indiscernible mix in the filling and for some reason, though the bun was nicely steamed, the bottom was pulled off right with the paper. For desserts, we tried the Steamed Sweetened Milk (which was palatable though some may find the ginger in it an unnecessary addition) and the Mango Tapioca Pudding (which was fairly well done if not the best of its kind).

Overall, Floata offers a wide selection of dim sum of varied quality. Although I don’t rate it as the best in Vancouver, I’ve actually been there for dim sum several times – more than anywhere else in this city – and it will probably remain an acceptable venue with some tasty offerings, on the less expensive end of the dim sum scale (seven of us each paid $13 including tip), conveniently located downtown, and with lots of space for friends and family to meet.