Little Bird Dim Sum + Craft Beer — Restaurant in Vancouver

We somehow felt like dim sum yesterday but was already late as most Chinese restaurants don't serve dim sum after 3pm. I suddenly recalled reading about this restaurant and decided to try it for dinner with the fam.

As someone who spent my childhood in HK and every once in a while we go out for dim sum, to be honest, I think the food was good but not entirely authentic. I would say the menu is about 70% authentic.

Some of the "real" dim sum items we enjoyed: Siu Mai, sticky rice, Taro puff, matcha sesame ball (although we could not taste any matcha), and sponge cake

Not enjoyed as much: Sparerib with black bean - portion was small and mostly bones 😅

Items slightly different from actual dim sum but we also enjoyed: Sticky rice puff - I had a hard time trying to figure out what it was but my dad recognized this one. It's the "salty water pastry" or "haam sui gok" in Chinese. Normally it's not that chewy/mochi-ish inside but we liked the texture!

Fun guo - this one was interesting. The presentation was very different from what we expected. Instead of the traditional thick wrapper, it was a rounded veggie dumpling with green wrapper. Once we had a bite we found similarity to the real fun guo minus the meat and peanut. It was good!

Shrimp toast - okay this one is really not dim sum, but my mom loved how it was overloaded with sesame!

Items we thought were okay: Chicken wing - nothing too special about this one. Not really dim sum 😅

Chicken knuckles - felt small and over fried

Shanghai pork bun - not sure if it was supposed to be "San Jin bao" since they kind of pan fried it but it was not bad 🙂

Chive and shrimp dumpling - it was okay. Basically siu Mai but added chive inside instead of pork

Garlic squid - it was not bad. Usually would be the squid tentacles that you find at dim sum restaurant

Overall the food was not bad compared to real dim sum standard. The vibe was relaxing (the best part, since dim sum restaurants are always very busy and loud with the whole world chatting next to your table) Our server was very friendly. I would recommend this place to people who want to try dim sum but find Chinese restaurant environment to be too intimidating (they mostly are, for people who don't understand...

Hi everyone!

Here’s my personal take on this restaurant, which has received three consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards.

Service – The staff were one of the highlights of the experience: kind, respectful, and energetic.

Atmosphere – The design is simple and comfortable. However, the current layout makes coordination between servers rather difficult due to how narrow the space is.

Food – I noticed some recent comments about the food being oily, so I’d like to break it down:

BBQ Pork Bun – The bun itself felt a bit dry. The pork was delicious, but overall, the dish wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I expected.

Fun Guo – Probably one of my favorites. It’s a nice blend of chestnut, shiitake mushroom, and truffle. This was the only dish I felt wasn’t oily. I would definitely recommend it.

Baby Gai Lan – A simple dish, not overwhelmed by sauce. Nicely done.

Scallop Taro Puff (one of their signature dishes) – An interesting dish that might not be a fan favorite for everyone. Personally, I thought the scallops were cooked at the right temperature and the puff was crisp. If you’re curious, feel free to give it a try.

The Dumplings – This is where I felt some extra care is needed, if I were in the owner’s shoes. There was inconsistency in the dough—either too thick or too thin. I noticed customers at nearby tables looked a bit disappointed. The main issue was that the broth dominated my palate, and there was a lack of harmony between the ingredients.

Traditional Sesame Ball – The highlight of the night. This dessert reminded me of frangipane: nice, crisp, not too sweet, and delightful. I loved this dessert and would definitely come back for it.

Overall impressions: While the restaurant has its own style, the dumplings lacked harmony. I feel there could be more love and care put into the dough and fillings. I would still recommend this place, but I hope they revisit their dumplings internally. Personally, I think they have some ways to go before matching a Bib Gourmand standard.

Food can tell a story, and what made this experience enjoyable was the staff and a few standout dishes. The dumplings need some work, to be honest. I just want every...

Came here for lunch on a Sunday. Took down our contact information for contract tracing. It wasn't busy on a Sunday afternoon. The food was surprisingly not bad and the service was not bad. All the servers and kitchen staff were wearing masks. The shrimp toast was a bit too oily for me. It seems like it had soaked up all the oil. The shrimp dumpling skin was too thick but there was a good amount of shrimp inside and was flavoured nicely. The fried chicken knees was one of our favourite dishes. It was crunchy and chewy. Flavoured nicely. Would order this again. The sesame matcha balls was our favourite. There was close to no matcha flavour. It tasted mostly of sesame which was fine for me because I love sesame. It wasn't overly sweet and I loved the bitterness of the sesame. The mochi was also really chewy. The taro curry ball with scallop on top was a bit of a downer. The curry on the inside was a bit cold as it was colder than the outside so they probably didn't fry it all the way. The flavour was not bad but again the oil got soaked all the way through. There was a bit of a mishap with the rice balls with pork filling as it wasn't cooked all the way through. But they were apologetic and gave us a new one right away. The rice flour flavour from the outside was a bit too strong for me and also too thick but I liked the crispiness of the outside as it's a bit different from other dimsum places. Overall I thought the flavours were okay but some of the fried stuff could have been fried better. This place is perfect for smaller groups to go to as each dish comes with two pieces instead of the usual three or four so you can try more dishes. I would definitely recommend the fried chicken knees and the matcha sesame...