Vivacity Restaurant on Alexandra Road, Richmond

OK, fine.

I will use the words “duc beet” and not “tak peed” to describe something that is unusual or special. At least this rhymes with the Vietnamese word “Dac Biet” which means the same thing.

We were out looking for some “duc beet” dim sum last weekend. Of late, we had been searching for “duc beet” type of dim sums. As you know we don’t particularly like the run of the mill dim sums like siu mai, BBQ Pork buns and har gow … stuff like that. They are boring. It is the same as salmon sushi and tuna sushi if you know what I mean.

So we went to Vivacity. This is a popular Chinese restaurant located smack in the middle of Richmond’s glutton street of Alexandra.

Vivacity used to be on No 3 Road and Cambie until 3 years ago. They were forced to move to this new location to make way for the Canada Line Construction.

Vivacity is big. It is busy. And it is noisy.

The customers here are mostly well heeled as this is a slightly upscale restaurant. The prices were not too bad but this is not the kind of place you would expect $2 dim sum plates for sure.

Yeah, they have chandeliers. The captains are in suits and very professional. I like their service and no snobbishness in them. Remember I told you about the “tai yan” service at Jade where they gives you extra attention if you have an expensive car fob on the table? Well, the service here is not anywhere like that. We were well taken care off and the captains do go around chatting with their customers.

I just love this place. OK I know. I fall for things like gold colored seat covers and double table cloth. I just enjoy the ambiance here … particularly the noise and the bustle. Felt like Hong Kong.

Click on the menu above to show it in full width where you can read them easier.

The sections called Chef’s Suggestion and Chef’s Special was the two sections we focused on. To us this is where the “duc beet” dishes are found.

Normal dim sums are $4.00 to $4.50. Their special dishes are $7 to $8 but then they are bigger servings so it is not that expensive. I would say that their prices are comparable to most other places of similar class.

Actually, come to think of it they do not have a lot of “duc beet” dishes.

Several friends told me that their signature dish is not a dish. It is a sauce. They make great XO sauce.

We almost forgot about it until we noticed that on the table next to ours. As they were just seated, the captain brought over a saucer of the XO sauce to their table even before the tea came. The captain personally delivered that because the customers apparently is their regular customers.

We had to ask for it too. That was even before we ordered our food and we did not know of any dishes this would go with. We just wanted to taste it.

Their XO sauce is not spicy but particularly shrimpy. We all like it.

Remember to ask for it when you are here if they don’t give it to you.

The Deep Fried Crispy Milk Custard ($5.35) was duc beet to us. It came in a dish of ten pieces and served with granulated sugar on the side.

Actually the sugar is … More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Vivacity Restaurant on Alexandra Road, Richmond (801 words)

© ben for Chow Times, 2010. |
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Post tags: Chinese, Dim Sum, Restaurant Review, Richmond