Noshwellmenu

[rating:4] :

Spicy Court serves Sichuan and Shanghai style Chinese cuisine. They have yet to disappoint us for their dim sum. Its located just on the west side of Vancouver across from Oakridge Centre along the Cambie corridor. The restaurant itself is quite spacious and the environment is calmer than normal for dim sum restaurants. Since Tre and I aren’t early risers, and can barely crawl out of bed around this time of the morning, it’s nice to be able to carry on a conversation first thing in the morning without yelling into each other’s face. There aren’t usually any line ups; no people shoving to get ahead in line; yet the restaurant is full. It’s like organized chaos.

Spicy court isn’t one of the push-cart style dim sum restaurant. But, you quickly forget the nostalgia when you realize that food gets to you quicker. You get these tiny little menu sheets with checkboxes beside each item. Once selection is done, you hand it over to your server.

We ordered shrimp dumplings, shrimp on eggplant, beef rice rolls, beef balls, beef tripe and egg tarts. All the dishes are good: well prepared and flavourful. They didn’t taste mushy or overcooked like some push-cart restaurants (a consequence of unwanted dishes being left on the cart for hours before being claimed by some unfortunate customer). The only complaint we have is the beef balls usually take a long time to reach our table. It’s a bit annoying because I have to wait a while before I can start on my egg tarts.

The hot sauce is great at Spicy Court. It’s a slightly sweet spicy chili bean sauce — different from the usual hot sauce and mustard at other dim sum joints — and it adds that extra flavour and kick to each dish.

Our experience at Spicy Court has always been decent. The food has always been up to par, and the best part is — no sticky chopsticks. The prices are slightly on the higher side, but that’s ok. If we have to pay a bit extra for better quality food and to have the chopsticks cleaned properly — so be it.

Note: If you arrive here before 10am, there is a discount off your bill. I can’t remember how much it is, but it’s worth getting here early.

The Details

101. 5638 Cambie St. Vancouver
604.325.1189

— ♠ —