‘You can pretend it’s just pork’
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Wonton King owner Olivia Lau with Szechuan chicken, manager Erik Hui with smoked cod and deep-fried bean curd. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun
WONTON KING
620 S.E. Marine Dr., 604-321-4433
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What can you expect of a non-descript restaurant in a tired old strip mall? That was my thinking when I walked into Wonton King.
We were greeted warmly and seated with a flourish. Clean white tablecloths covered the tables and servers patiently navigated us around the lengthy menu.
When our first dish arrived, I looked forward to the rest of the meal. We’d ordered a wonton soup, since it’s the namesake, and it proved to be very good. The broth was delicate and the noodle had a tasty filling. Manager Erik Hui says a lot of wonton hasn’t got enough pork in it. “If you ask me, real wonton is half meat and half shrimp. A lot of places put too much shrimp. Ours is half and half,” he says. Staff make it by hand.
Wonton King has been operating for 20 years in the same location and has only changed hands between siblings since it opened. Hui says many of the staff have been there for more than 10 years. He’s been there 18. “Everybody knows what they have to do,” he says.
The menu offers about a hundred items but the kitchen seems to be in control. A half soy duck ($14) was tidily arranged on the plate and a very generous serving at that. Shrimp and scrambled eggs ($16) was a beautifully prepared dish with fluffy-soft eggs and tender shrimp cooked to the right point. Singapore vermicelli noodles ($9.50) suggested a deft hand — the noodles weren’t matted or tangled. A portobello mushroom and broccoli dish ($12) featured bright green broccoli with a bit of snap; once again, a very generous serving.
Hui says there’s a menu with dishes that are popular only with the Chinese, one that in winter, will feature a snake dish. “It makes you hot in the winter,” he says. “Canadians are scared of it.” He suggested I try it sometime. “You can pretend it’s just pork,” he said. Not a good suggestion. I’m the type that screams at the sight of a slithery snake and gets warnings from my partner if there’s a photo of a snake in the paper or magazine.
A lot of Indian guests come for the spicy Szechuan dishes, like the spicy green beans, which can be vegetarian or not (the not contains minced pork and dried shrimp). He says the smoked black cod and spicy deep-fried oysters are popular dishes. “Crispy and really spicy,” he says of the oysters.
Wonton King is open for lunch and dinner daily except for Tuesday.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008