By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

The menu is fairly limited, but enough. The Shrimp Spring Rolls were on point, crunchy with buttery shrimp that exhibited a light snap while mildly seasoned.

The Special House Noodles were prepared crispy with a mish mash shrimp, scallop, chicken, fish cake and Vietnamese ham on top. The starch-thickened sauce worked, but lacked flavour. The Stuffed Eggplant & Tofu was just as bland. The shrimp mousse was on point while the eggplant was soft yet still had a bite.

Although the dumpling skin on the Haw Gow was a touch thick, it had a nice chew. The filling had little flavour – it could've used more sesame oil and salt. Same goes for the Sui Mai.

The Phoenix Talons (Chicken Feet) with Beef Tripe was terrible: it was missing the tender plump skin and gelatinous cartilage underneath and had little tripe. All we got was bone and a bit of skin. It didn’t have the expected garlicky saltiness.

The Beef Meatballs were decent. There was a bounce texture that did not completely erase the natural meat chewiness. It was mildly seasoned.

The Chicken and Fish Maw looked sparse. The chicken was buttery. The fish maw was soft and had some melting pieces with very mild flavours.

For dessert, we had Egg Tarts which were flaky and buttery with a silky and lightly sweet custard. The Steamed Egg White Custard was mild on the sugar. It was silky with a touch of wateriness. The theme of the meal was "mild" (or bland) which would be ideal for those watching their salt intake. For me, everything needed more flavours. Other than that, the food was decent, if not a little pricey.

Garden City Hot Pot

8788 McKim Way, Richmond, BC

The Good:

• Attentive service

• Interesting individual teas (albeit expensive)

• Okay eats

The Bad:

• Underseasoned

• A little pricey (unless you have a discount card)

• Limited selection

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