Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

---Dec 2022 edit--- Things have completely changed here.

There were only 3 tables during the time we went (3pm) and they couldnt even handle it and they were focusing on the online orders. Even that they couldn't even get any orders correct.

We ordered and sat for 30 min watching everyone else get their food except us. Then I overheard the servers asking why we don't have food yet and it turns out they forgot to send the orders to the kitchen. We asked about it and they did not apologize and just said "it's coming soon"

They wrote down the wrong order and gave us something completely different. We asked for the original order and they tried to push the already-made wrong dish to us. They asked us to try it (so they dont have to make a new one)

Appetizer roasted 'pork' slices - super jello-y. They did not use the veggie meat for this and it doesn't taste like what it's supposed to imitate.

Hot and sour soup - was ok. Very surfacy flavor. They need to make a vegetable or mushroom stock or something for flavor.

Mapo tofu - no spicy component at all. Not much peppercorn or doubanjiang taste. It was tasty but not made correctly.

The 扣肉 (taro with veggie meat pot) was a disaster. The chef did not know how to make it. The sauce was not supposed to be 南乳 (red fermented beancurd). It is supposed to be dark soy sauce. The taro should be fried but they didn't which resulted in most of the taro disintegrating into the dish. There was not enough sauce to soak the taro leaving the taro dry and sandy.

We ordered the deep fried oyster mushrooms and for the whole 1.5 hour we were there, it never came. The table who came an hour after us received that dish. We asked about it and they said "it's coming soon" so we ended up just canceling the dish.

The whole time we were eating, we can hear the servers yell at each other and to the chef for making wrong orders, or not enough orders, and not even knowing whether a customer had paid or not. None of them were coordinated with each other and there was a lot of confusion everywhere.

When paying, the server even suggested she can take my card to pay for me (aka she chooses the tips).

Never need to come here again and I will give the Bo Kong across the street a try.

----edit end---

My mother and I go here once in a while because she loves trying vegetarian food.

I am not someone who likes vegetarian dishes that just take regular meat dishes and take out the meat. This place has both kinds of dishes: some with just veggies thrown together like their curry, and some with meat-like texture like their black pepper beef and bean curd (which is my fav dish)

This time we tried their dimsum. Black bean sauce fried bean curd - pretty pricey as it was 17.95 for a dish but it tastes great. Deep fried seaweed wrapped enoki - it has carrots and fake ham in there too. Taste is good and I really like their batter as well. Tapioca pudding - full of tapioca and has red bean paste in the middle. Freshly baked. Delicious. Siu mai - is a no for me. Made of fake ham? Not sure but it was very soft and soggy and does not satisfy the meat like texture I wanted.

Must try for this place for dinner for me is Deep fried oyster mushroom Black pepper beef...

My first time trying vegetarian dim sum, I don't have anything to compare with.

In general, I enjoyed the texture and the flavour profile here.

Service was good, waitress always come around checking our tea pots. Some language barrier with some though.

We ordered 10 dishes between the 4 of us and found it to be the perfect amount and variety of food.

We went at 1pm on a Friday and it was not busy anymore, which is great. My friends have been here before and they are usually packed around noon.

Food was slow, compared to normal dim sum place, but it was a nice chance to sip tea and enjoyed a good conversation with friends.

Pan fried noodle with bean curd roll - I really like their bean curd roll. Came out nice and crispy but also saucy, if that make sense. I didn't care too much for the noodle but that bean curd roll is definitely a win.

Veggie shrimp dumplings - I believe they use imitation crab nuggets in the dumpling and unlike other imitation crab I had, they were good textured.

Mushroom sui mai - I love the texture and the flavour of the mushroom here. Are all vegetarian dishes big on texture or I'm just not used to it!? First bite I was a bit confused, but after that it was a very addicting texture.

Pan fried turnip cake - Very clean but flavourful taste. Quite nice actually.

Steamed rice flour roll with Chinese donut - Boy that Chinese donut came out crispy. So despite the fact that the flour roll was a little bit on the thicker side, it was still nice and light. A great contrast between soft and crispy. Sauces were good too.

Steamed BBQ veggie pork bun - Good sweet bun! I would order this again. The bun itself was a bit small but the bun to veggie pork ratio were good.

Chinese mushroom & lettuce congee - I usually judge a dim sum eatery by how well they made their congee and sui mai. Although, their congee is not typically what I preferred. I was surprised to find myself liking its clean, light flavour. It is a bit on the watery side and very bland, but nothing a little soy sauce cannot fix.

Deep fried taro dumpling - I like it but it came out last and I was already full. Came out piping hot, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Flavour was on point, and to be honest I don't think I can tell the different between this and the regular one. Except maybe the lack of that heavy oily curry flavour typically in the meat version. I actually preferred this one because it was clean and have no aftertaste.

Pan fried pot stickers - Came out looking flat but don't let the looks fool you, they were packed with flavour and was very juicy.

I didn't care for the other dumplings we ordered, the texture and flavour was not good to me.

Price was fair and on the cheaper side with the flavour and texture that keep you craving for. I would definitely like to come back and try the...

Service is okay, and food comes out at a reasonable time. Note that there is a tea and water fee per person. Items are a hit or miss, but if you know what to get you'll have a great experience. Here is my breakdown (from best to worst)

The good: Jai - very flavourful, nice textures, lots of different flavours Veggie pork slices - very unique in both flavour and texture, like very fatty pork almost Deep fried turnip strip cakes - a bit oily, very flavourful and the shredded radish gives a good texture Tapioca pudding - great crust, loved the red bean filling, very flavourful Pumpkin and beancurd skin hot pot - very flavourful, great textures Wonton soup - wrapper not too thick, slightly chewy filling, milder in flavour but very comforting Beancurd skin roll in black bean sauce - flavourful sauce, beancurd rolls had a nice texture Hot and spicy wontons - a little spicy, wrapper not too thick, filling is tasty but a bit mushy XO radish cake - good flavour but too oily and the batter was too thick Panfried stuffed eggplant - eggplant was great but a bit oily, topping a bit dry and bland

The average: Chili eggplant in chu hau sauce - decent flavour, eggplant was tender Veggie drumsticks Eggplant and tofu hot pot - average tasting, not very flavourful Spring rolls - a bit too oily, average flavour Spicy green beans - not that spicy tbh but still flavourful Deep fried chilli tofu - not too oily, a little lacking in flavour, not spicy at all Pan fried sticky rice - bland and uninspiring

The bad: Fresh beancurd skin sheet with sweet and sour sauce - sauce was not good but the beancurd was nice Pan fried vegetable buns - bun was okay, but there was basically no filling Panfried potstickers - wrapper way too thick, not enough filling Plain rice rolls - very bland and doughy Tasty fresh shiitake mushrooms - mushrooms were bitter, batter was thick and kind of soggy, sauce was overly sweet BBQ puff pastry - greasy and the filling tasted weird and way too sweet Siu mai - slimy and mushy,...