Lin's Chinese Cuisine and Tea House

Here goes, my first and hopefully not last post for this blog.

Lin's Chinese Cuisine and Tea House
1537 West Broadway (A little bit west of Granville and Broadway)
Vancouver, BC V6J 1W6

(604) 733-9696‎

I had been wanting to try some proper xiaolongbao for a while, so we took a rather long (and stuffy) bus ride to Lin's based on all the positive buzz surrounding the place. We were slow to be seated, but that was expected due our timing. The inside of restaurant is relatively roomy, with a rather odd not quite peach, not quite orange coat of paint over the walls. The word that comes to mind is "salmon".

One of the first things that we noticed was the funky tableware being used. I guess I'm not used to eating at places that stray from conventional white plates and teapots.



Food service was slow, but again, expected because we came during odd hours. First up were some potstickers. I didn't get to snap a picture before my dining companions dug in, but there were 6 in total. At $4.99, they definitely aren't the cheapest, but I was glad that they weren't the frozen generic variety that every place seems to carry. They were good, but nothing out of the ordinary.



My friend took advantage of their $2 bubbletea special and ordered mango. His verdict is that it's okay, but not great. No picture of that unfortunately. (Edit: Actually, a bit of it is visible in the first picture)



Of course, here is our 3x xiaolongbao order that managed to shock the wait staff.



Since I haven't had proper xiaolongbao often enough to really critique, I'll make some general comments. The skin was appropriately thin and translucent enough to see the soup inside the dumpling (you can sort of see in the photos). The balance of meat and soup was about right for me, but I think I prefer a more fatty soup. The filling was fine. They cost the same as the potstickers, $4.99 for 6.

Here is the obligatory pick up test to see if it holds together.



I probably won't order the potstickers again as they are rather ordinary, but I am looking forward to trying their other dishes.