By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

We started with Dim Sum at Vivacity where we had the Ha Gau and Siu Mai. The shrimp had a buttery snap with natural sweetness accented by sesame oil. The Siu Mai were even better. Not overly dense, the dumpling was fairly light and natural-tasting.

The Seafood Dumpling in Soup was sweet and full-of-depth while easy on the salt. The pork and shrimp filling was on point with considerable cilantro. We also had the Deep Fried Glutinous Dumpling, but wasn’t our favourite. But, the filling was really good with whole shrimp and lean ground pork.

At Szechuan Station, we got the Spicy Wontons and Boiled Dumplings. The spicy and tongue-numbing chili oil-based sauce was noticeable. The filling lacked texture. The boiled dumplings were pretty good. The filling, although lacking, was surprisingly balanced.

At Shibuyatei, we sampled the Gyoza Combo with Pork, Shrimp and Scallop. My favourite was the pork.  The scallop was too sweet, a little mushy but the shrimp had a meaty snap and was naturally sweet.

At Dinesty we ordered the Xiao Long Bao and the Crab Xiao Long Bao. The main difference between the two types of XLBs was that the crab and pork filling was sweeter with background brininess. 

We went to Shanghai Station in Empire Centre’s Spicy Wontons, which were the best I've had in town.  The filling was moist and meaty.  The best part was the combination of peanut sauce and chili oil sauce.

At Pepper Lunch, the gyozas were seared up evenly rendering a crispy and appealingly golden brown underside. The rest of the dumpling skin was thin and al dente while the filling, whether it be beef or chicken, was tender and juicy. I loved the meatiness and more robust flavour of the beef than the chicken.

Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.