New Mandarin was a relative's choice for the 2nd night banquet of a recent family meetup in…read moreVancouver. The restaurant proudly displays being mentioned in the Michelin Guide, so we were pretty hyped going in.
Service is far worse than other comparable banquet restaurants. They told us to go in the side door next to T&T to reach the private dining area, but it was locked and we were stuck there for 10 minutes waiting for them to unlock the door. I feel like that's where they put parties they want to forget about. In normal Cantonese banquet service, it's expected to have to flag down the waitstaff. But the problem with the private rooms is that there's no one to flag down at all. It took 20 minutes after seating to get the menu, and after we had the food packed up, it took them 30 minutes to bring out dessert.
Jasmine Tea - Not good, really astringent and overbrewed flavor.
King Crab ($398) - The crab is prepared three ways. Firstly, simply steamed legs, cooked in its own juices with plentiful aromatics. It's ridiculously garlicky, and has lots of fried shallots for texture and more flavor. One flaw: the garlic isn't trimmed. The meat is tender, perfectly cooked, and since the legs are butterfly cut as well, the meat separates readily from the shell - an entire legs comes out with a single run of chopsticks along the bottom. (5/5)
The second dish includes the rest of the body segments substantially battered, fried, and slathered in sauce. They are separated out into smaller pieces making it easier to eat. They look oily and definitely are. There's a nice wok hei fragrance. The smoky taste combines well with the sweet umami of the sauce, which also has plenty of ginger and other aromatics. This dish comes with a choice of hot or not, and we went with the latter. While it's battered and fried, the exterior is oily enough that the crisp, while still existing, is softened a little. The meat inside, though, is still tender, juicy, and sweet. (5/5)
As with tradition, the Fried Rice comes out last. They are not generous with the crab meat at all - there are barely any specks of meat mixed in and far more shrimp, peas, and carrots. So low on crab that I feel like they removed the rest of the crab meat we paid for. Otherwise, this dish is mildly seasoned giving a mild flavor. Good rice texture though, and as a bonus, they sprinkle the top with crab roe. (3/5)
The crab was supposedly 6lb. The previous night, we had a 6lb crab from another place and we got way more meat. I'm not going to call them a scam, but something's fishy.
Stir Fried Taiwanese Cauliflower w/ Cured Meat ($39.98) - The cauliflower is not cut into evenly sizes pieces, so the larger ones are perfectly cooked with some bite and crunch and the smaller pieces are overcooked, wilted, and rubbery. Not a fan. The veggies are mixed with Chinese sausage and bacon, meaty and sweet. The dish is quite oily. (3/5)
Deep Fried Spareribs w/ House Special Sauce ($39.98) - This was my favorite dish. Excellent fried crisp, which isn't softened by the thick cornstarch enhanced orange sauce. It's sweet, salty, savory, great flavor profile. The best part is the blistered coating on the outside giving a superb craggly crunch. They process the pork ribs so that each piece has a bit of rib that easily comes off. (5/5)
Pork Chop w/ Plum Sauce ($39.98) - Not as tender as the same dish from the previous day. It's a totally different preparation and much higher in quality though. Each piece has a fruity sour, but salty and savory flavor. Some pieces have bones, while others are boneless. There's an additional plum sauce only in the center and it's not evenly applied. There's an excellent light crisp on the exterior and the flavor is nice and balanced. (4/5)
Pepper & Salt Fried Golden Chicken ($29.98) - Not good. The meat is dry and stringy. It's a really oily dish too. At least the skin is slightly crisp. (2/5)
Braised E-Fu Noodle w/ Assorted Mushroom ($26.98) - Super heavy wok hei fragrance. One of the heaviest smoky dishes I've eaten. The noodles are almost completely soft, not a huge fan of this texture, it's barely chewy at all, the teeth slice through cleanly without chew or bounce. It's mixed with tons of mushrooms of various types. The sauce flings off when serving - I got peppered a number of times with hot sauce when my neighbors were serving themselves. (3/5)
Dessert:
Red Bean Soup - Lightly seasoned with ginger. There were also cookies provided which I did not sample - too stuffed!
Sweet Corn Pudding ($7.28) - Mango jelly with a single note mango flavor like one would find in mango candy.
Coconut Mousse Pig ($11.98) - Coconut jelly, rich and milky, almost like white rabbit to me. Do they put condensed milk in this?
The food served at New Mandarin is hit or miss. I can see why they were removed from the 2026 edition of the Michelin Guide.
Washrooms - At least 2 unisex rooms.
Food: [3.75/5]
Service: [-]
Other: [-]
Final Rating: 3/5