Continental Seafood Restaurant

My friend had taken a week off from work and said she wanted to go for lunch during her time off. Originally, we were supposed to do lunch before Christmas, but it was the time of a big snowstorm, so we decided to postpone instead of sitting on a bridge for 12 hours trapped, like some unfortunate locals. The dealership I work with is building a new location and I said I heard The Northern Café is right near it, so let’s go check that out. I figured it would be the new hang out for us, and the VP and owner of the dealership had said it was a good spot.

My friend arrived first and called me. She said there was no parking for the Northern Café and to park on the nearest cross street. As I was about to arrive, she called again and said it was a one hour wait. It was 11am on a weekday and I was shocked. We decided not to wait and agreed to try dim sum instead. My friend suggested Continental and we drove from south Vancouver over to Richmond.

It was about 11:30am when we arrived, and we both easily found parking spots. The restaurant is in a strip mall with a Shoppers Drug Mart and a dollar store and other businesses. We entered the restaurant and were immediately sat down, and the manager said ice water and tea were coming. My friend explained that this is one of few dim sum restaurants where you choose food from rolling carts instead of a menu. After covid she said most of the places doing rolling carts, had stopped.

Our tea arrived and we began choosing food from the carts. My friend is Chinese, so it was nice to have her speaking on our behalf in Cantonese. We chose savory items first and ended with a few sweeter items. We had steamed pork and shrimp dumplings which are always a favorite of mine, steamed shrimp dumplings, pork spring rolls, deep fried crab claws, soya sauce chow mein, pan fried shrimp and chive cake and some boiled choy sum greens with garlic and oyster sauce. We were served Worcestershire sauce for dipping and hot sauce. Everything was delicious. I especially liked the crab claw and the soya sauce chow mein noodles.

We then chose to go sweeter and had BBQ pork pastry. The filling was on the sweeter side and I found this dish quite heavy, but delicious. We then ended with a dish I had never had, which was a tofu pudding. It was hot and the server poured a ginger sugar syrup on top. I enjoyed this and was really stuffed.

One thing I learned during lunch was about communal chop sticks. I had never noticed that one set of chop sticks was a different color on the table in any past dim sum visits. These are to be used only to serve yourself the various dishes with. They were white in color in this case. The other chop sticks, which were brown, you are to use to eat with. I had never known this and was glad to learn, so in the future I hope I don’t offend anyone. I told a few friends and they said they didn’t know either, so I’m glad to know this.

Our bill was not a small one. A little much for lunch at $100 before taxes. But I think it was worth it considering there was a lot of seafood. I noticed as we were leaving, there was a wall of photos with a lot of past and present politicians. My friend explained the restaurant is often used for political fundraisers and get togethers. I decided right then and there that one day I would get my photo on the wall. Look out for me Continental! I’m definitely coming back to claim a spot on the wall! As we left, we were being stalked for our parking spots. The parking lot was a nightmare of people wanting to park and people just randomly walking around. It was entertaining when you already have a spot, but frustrating if you are the person driving around and around looking for a spot and dodging the pedestrians.

I really enjoyed my dim sum experience and had not had dim sum since prior to Covid. I really appreciated having the rolling cart dim sum I’m used to instead of ordering from a menu. It’s a shame these places are disappearing. I went a few days after Chinese New Year and realized how much I had missed the New Years festival for the past few years and the fun of trying new foods with my good Chinese friends. I’m glad .everything is getting back to normal since Covid began. You’ll see me back at this restaurant again for sure. I highly recommend it and I will leave a lasting mark once I get my photo on that wall!

#150 - 11700 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC