Restaurant Review: Golden Rice Bowl

GOLDEN RICE BOWL RESTAURANT

5365 Gateway Boulevard | goldenricebowl.ca Instagram: @goldenricebowl

Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

I've driven by Golden Rice Bowl thousands of times and somehow it has always been a restaurant that has eluded me. Well no more! I finally made my way to this iconic Calgary Trail North spot that is beloved for dim sum on a Saturday evening and was excited to sample all of their small plates! In fact, the Edmonton Journal named Golden Rice Bowl as the Best/Favourite Dim Sum Restaurant 2020, 2022, and 2023. It was high time that I experienced it for myself! You'll find Golden Rice Bowl in a strip mall-style plaza that is full of various businesses and yes, if you've been an Edmontonian for any amount of time, you've driven by regularly. The restaurant looks large from the outside with huge red lettering alerting passersby to the dim sum within. The inside is just as expansive, boasting a huge open dining area. I noticed that they have various partitions and the ability to section off parts of the room if needed - likely for private events. As with many Chinese restaurants, you are immediately greeted by a sizable (and very clean!) aquarium filled with beautiful tropical fish. However, I was even more impressed by the aquariums at the very back of the restaurant - these ones filled with live fish and seafood for the kitchen. It doesn't get much fresher than that! The room is ornate but not overdone. Bright red paint on the walls is accented by golden decor items such as gilded dragons with glowing eyes. The ceiling drips with crystal chandeliers and the space is filled with a sea of tables in various sizes. This is the type of place where large generational families come to gather, sitting around huge round tables with a signature lazy susan in the center of each one. Once seated we were served a pot of Chinese Tea ($1.50 each) and began to peruse the menu. (No, the tea was not included.) I liked that all of the dishware was matching, from the teapot to the bowls.

Traditional Chinese tea.

Golden Rice Bowl is known for their dim sum but they also boast a complete and extensive menu of general Chinese food. There's a lot to choose from! However, on my visit the plan was to stick to the dim sum menu only, which is available all day long (even though it is traditionally eaten as brunch). Originating in the south of China, dim sum features a wide variety of small, bite-sized dishes typically served in steamer baskets or on small plates. It's pretty similar to the Spanish concept of tapas. Many dim sum restaurants use trolley carts to parade their offerings around, however a more modern practice is to provide guests with a checklist menu that you fill out and hand back to your server. Golden Rice Bowl does neither of these things and the server simply writes down your order in typical fashion. The dim sum menu is two pages long and offers over fifty items! Some of the dishes were larger, family-style plates which makes sense to round out the meal especially at dinnertime. The only issue is that there are no prices listed on the dim sum menu so you sort of just have to hope for the best? Our feast began with an order of Wor Wonton Soup ($29.95). At first we assumed the this would be served as single servings but the server pointed out that it would come as one big soup to share. Very glad that he clarified this!

I was very impressed by our gracious and attentive server who portioned the bowls of soup for each of us at our table. Giant in size, this was much more than a basic wonton soup with a couple of dumplings floating around! This flavourful version was packed full with big pieces of chicken, pork, and shrimp. Plus tons of vegetables, and yes, of course wonton dumplings containing a meaty filling. Every ingredient was bright and fresh and I was glad to get some veggies into the meal because dim sum can be quite a "brown dinner." The other larger dish that we ordered was the Ginger Beef ($29.95), a dish invented in Calgary with an interesting history.

Certainly not traditional, ginger beef is a quintessential Canadian Chinese dish that was invented in the 1970s. Deep fried strips of beef are coated in a dark, sweet sauce and it's quite delicious. The tanginess of the sauce is so addictive and the texture of the beef is satisfying. The version at GRB is quite good, however the best ginger beef that I've ever tasted was at Emerald Garden Restaurant in Calgary. Then it was time for the actual dim sum! Little plates incoming!! We really wanted to try the Pan Fried Taro Root with Pork Sausage but were unfortunately informed that they did not have any available. Our server suggested the Pan Fried Chinese Turnip with Pork Sausage ($7.95) instead, which did look somewhat similar. (The fact that the dim sum menu shows images of every item is very helpful!)

Unfortunately, this turned out to be the least favourite dish of the night just because the texture was really challenging. These cakes were extremely soft and mushy. I actually did enjoy the flavour of the turnip and sausage but the mushiness was a bit too difficult to get around.

Similarly, we wanted to order the Baked BBQ Pork Buns but were told that they were unavailable. In this case we chose the Pan Fried Pork Dumpling ($7.95) instead because you can't really go wrong with these.

I wouldn't have ordered these if the other buns had been an option just because they're a pretty basic item. But honestly, no one is ever mad at a nicely fried pork dumpling! These were fun and easy to eat and the meat inside was juicy. I definitely had to try the Deep Fried Lobster Perogy ($8.95)!

While I liked these a lot, the super crunchy wrapper was satisfying and I enjoyed the creamy dipping sauce, I'm very certain that these were not filled with actual lobster. I'm pretty sure that it was just a shrimp paste being sold as lobster. Also, they were referring to these as "perogies" which is funny and cute. It's pretty clear that these are actually made with a fried wonton dough. Regardless, I liked the crunch and flavour a lot and was happy to chomp down on these. A must was the Minced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling ($7.50) otherwise known as shumai.

Served in a steaming basket, these are some of my faves! This version was mostly like a meatball with a thin wrapper around them but the meat was super juicy and each bite was bursting with flavour. To me, this is exactly what dim sum is supposed to be! Next we moved on to the dessert round with some dishes leaning more on the sweet side! The Steamed Creamy Egg Yolk Buns ($7.95) were SO CUTE!!

Also served in a steaming basket, these adorable buns were shaped like little pigs and it was such a joyful touch! (There was a moment when we questioned whether the buns were pork-filled.) If you've never had a salted egg yolk bun before, you must! The warm, soft, pillowy bun felt so good to bite into and then I was met with the rush of molten runny filling! These buns are sweet, salty, warm, and just delightful! The perfect way to finish a big dim sum meal! We also ordered the Deep Fried Sesame Balls ($7.95) because we're big fans of them.

The server asked if she could cut them for us and then proceeded to snip each orb with a pair of scissors. I love a sesame ball - so crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. (The best ones are from Shan Shan Bakery in Chinatown.) Served warm, I'm used to these being filled with red bean paste but the ones at Golden Rice Bowl had a different filling. It was something yellow and jam-like and I honestly have no idea what it was. These tasted very good though and were another great not-too-sweet treat for the end of the meal. At this point we were so full and had had our dessert. Imagine our surprise when another savoury dish (that we had completely forgotten about) was suddenly delivered to the table! It was the Stuffed Shrimp in Egg Plant ($8.95) that we had ordered.

I really wished that the kitchen would have sent these out earlier with the rest of our meal because by the time that we received them I was already finished eating. Or so I thought. The shrimp topping seemed like the same stuff that was inside of the so-called lobster perogies. The cook on the eggplant was quite nice and very tender. But overall, I could barely even try this dish.

There were some highs and lows with my meal at Golden Rice Bowl but the attentive and caring service was certainly the highest point. I really got the sense that they care about their customers and are trying to provide an experience where elevated standards are met and guests are treated well. For a restaurant that has been around for over fifty years, Golden Rice Bowl has gained legendary mainstay status. You can feel the tradition steeped within the walls and I know that they're going to have a packed dining room for many more years to come.