Takeout Review: Golden Sands Chinese Restaurant

Address: 5010 Centre Street N ; Website: https://goldensandscalgary.ca/

Let me start by saying that I’ve actually been to this restaurant before. I didn’t realize I had and thought this was going to be an entirely new experience for review. It was in a sense. You see, I haven’t been there for over ten years and from what was advertised to me via Instagram, I thought that this was a totally different place than it was. That said, the menu has changed somewhat from when I last went so I think this would qualify as a “new” review.

Stuck at home with a migraine, having not slept well for about four days, I really wanted some comfort food. For me, that is dim sum. Did I maybe order too much? Yes. But will I eat this happily for four days? Also yes.

I ordered the Steamed Scallop & Shrimp Dumplings with Black Truffle, Steamed Pork Shao Mai with Fish Roe, Bean Curd Wraps with Shrimp and Minced Pork, Chiu Chow Style Pork and Peanut Dumplings, Deep Fried Shrimp Dumplings with Mayo, Chinese Donut Rice Crepe, Rice Crepe with Prawn, and the Golden Sand Chow Mein.

My staples when getting dim sum, are har gow and sui mai but since the Scallop & Shrimp Dumpling is essentially a har gow, I skipped it. The Scallop & Shrimp Dumpling was one of the ones I had seen on Instagram so I figured I should try it. I love truffle so this new twist on a classic should be good right? Honestly, it was just okay. I felt it was a little weird and out of place with the flavours of the dumpling. Truffle pairs fine with shrimp and scallop as I’ve had it before, but with the flavours of the seasoning in the shrimp, it didn’t taste quite right. The truffle overpowered the subtle seasoning in the shrimp. Besides that, these dumplings did not hold together. I could barely pick it up without the wrapper splitting and the filling just falling right out. Overall, really hard to eat. I tried to distribute the truffle around a bit, but I ended up having to eat the truffle covered scallop first and then slowly work through the rest of the dumpling. They were good, but I preferred the traditional one.

Next was the Shao Mai. At first look, it looked pretty standard. They used the correct fish roe - tobiko not masago. The first bite told me everything I needed to know. The meat was loose and full of fat. Though I do like a bit of fat mixed into my meat to keep it from going dry and to retain flavour but this was too much. The flavour was good, as a siu mai/shao mai ought to taste. It’s still edible, but it borders on gross.

One of the reasons I ordered from here was the Bean Curd Wraps with Shrimp and Minced Pork. Like the siu mai, there was the issue of the pork being too loose. Biting into the roll caused most of the filling to fall out. Again, it was well flavoured but it was also a little bit weird. I’m used to it being almost like a sausage roll type situation with these and these are some of my favourite things to have at dim sum so I get them frequently. This was more like a stir-fried situation and then the crumbly filling was wrapped in the bean curd, deep fried and then steamed. It also used mung bean noodles as filler which I thought was awful cheap of them. The only thing it did was fulfill the craving I had for them, but I’ve had so much better.

Chiu Chow Style Pork and Peanut Dumplings are another staple of my dim sum experience. I started with a lukewarm relationship with these but they slowly grew on me. Like the har gow, the wrapper did not hold so well so one bite caused the whole thing to crumble and cause the filling to all fall out. Luckily, this one was not filled with fat. This one I’m used to the slightly looser filing (because the meat/filling is cooked before they get wrapped). These are probably some of the most flavourful Chiu Chow style dumplings I’ve had.

I followed this up with the Deep Fried Shrimp Dumplings with Mayo. Usually I go for the pan-fried bean curd wrapped shrimp, but it’s been a while since I’ve had the deep fried one, so I decided to go for it. The shrimp was a lot more minced than I was used to and the texture felt like it had been cut with something (like fat) but over all, flavour was good. I appreciated that they put a lot of filling compared to some of the other places that I’ve had it and the wrapper had good crunch (and there was a satisfying amount of fried wrapper), but they only had three instead of four. Also, I don’t know what kind of mayo they use for these (not just at this restaurant), but it’s sweeter and a little more translucent than other mayos I’ve had and reminds me a little of condensed milk (but not as sweet) and I know for certain it’s not kewpie.

Next was the Chinese Donut Rice Crepe. This is actually one of Mackenzie’s favourite dim sum items, so, of course, I had to get it for him. I normally don’t get it because it’s just carbs wrapped in carbs, but I can’t deny that carbs soaked in soy sauce and drizzled with hoisin and peanut/sesame butter isn’t super delicious. This was especially the case with this one. Though they didn’t give very much hoisin or sesame sauce, it had great pourability. But it was the soy sauce that made this dish so much better. There’s soy sauce and then there’s this. It was thick, with a great balance of sweet and salty that just coated the rice crepe and donut perfectly. The rice crepe was very thin, which would’ve been really great if I had had it at the restaurant as it wouldn’t have compromised the integrity of the crunchy Chinese donut. As it took a while between making, packing and delivery, the donut did soften. Sure, it would’ve been better crunchy, but the lack of crunch made it easier for it to absorb the soy sauce. Overall, it was pretty good, but I still dream about the ones stuffed with shrimp.

Next I tried the Rice Crepe with Prawn. This is another dim sum classic/staple for me. It is one of my sister’s favourite dishes. A well done rice crepe is smooth and thin. This was not very thin, but it was nice and smooth. The filling on the other hand was another matter altogether. Remember how I mentioned that the shrimp was minced more than I was used to in the “har gow”, well, this was worse. It honestly looked like it had been chewed but somehow still partially left intact and then stuffed into the crepe. However, there was some kind of binding agent that kept the shrimp clumped together so that when I picked up the crepe, all the filling just fell right out. Flavour wise it wasn’t bad. Texture wise it was a little weird. The soy sauce (which was the same as the one for the Chinese Donut Rice Crepe) was probably its saving grace.

Last but not least, the Golden Sand Chow Mein. This was fantastic. The noodles were very crunchy (which is how I like them). However, because it was so crunchy and I wasn’t eating the whole thing all in one go, the noodles didn’t get to sit in the sauce for a while and soften so I didn’t get that nice mix/balance of soft and crunchy. This isn’t an issue solely isolated to this restaurant. Any time I order the crispy noodles, they have this issue and that’s not the restaurant’s fault. Honestly, I do prefer them to be crunchy rather than just soggy/soft. The crunch is why I ordered them in the first place. This one is my favourite type of chow mein. It has basically a huge assortment of meat and veggies in the sauce that goes over it. Everything from fish and shrimp to char sui and chicken and, of course, bok choy. Overall, fantastic and it lasted me like 3 meals.

My rating is as follows:

• Service: 4/5

  • Pretty standard Skip delivery. Since I preordered, the wait was a bit longer, but once the restaurant accepted the order, it was like 30-45 minutes before we received it.

  • I appreciate that the restaurant packaged the sauce and noodles separate and that the sauce was wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent leakage. I think it would’ve been better if they had cut some ventilation holes in the boxes so things didn’t get as soggy as they did.

• Food: 3.25/5

  • The food was alright. I’m honestly not sure I’d order most of these things again, but that soy sauce was so good it makes me really consider ordering from them again in the future.

• Price: 3.5/5

  • In terms of price, it is pretty on par with other dim sum places around Calgary.

• Overall Rating: 3.583/5