Po Kong - Vancouver

The vegetarian folk in our family suggested eating a Po Kong. I honestly haven't set foot in that place for eons, after being zapped by extreme MSG the last time I was there. Naturally, I was more than a bit reluctant to repeat the MSG experience. But sometimes, one has to let other people choose their favourite venue. We were there for dinner. There was five of us and we ordered 6 dishes because we each wanted to eat our favourite dish: deep fried spring rolls, Bean Curd Skin Roll with black beans, Sticky Fried Rice, Braised Tofu, Fresh Vegetables on Deep Fried Noodles, Sweet Sour Delight. We didn't finish everything, and they were all very enjoyable. I was surprised that I could request no MSG for all the items on our order. Everyone's favourite was the Bean Curd Skin Roll. Even thought it is supposed to be in black bean sauce, thankfully, it was light in sauce, with a sprinkling of black beans – the best way to do black beans – perfect! The deep fried spring roll was very enjoyable as well. I have a weakness for sticky rice, this is the first time I have sticky rice that is not made with eggs and Chinese sausage. It was different but enjoyable. Since we've been avoiding carbs, it's been a while since we last had Cantonese fried noodles, and they were very good, with very fresh vegetables. I did not taste the sweet sour dish, but our Canadian folks rated it very good. I did not suffer any MSG problems after dinner and I felt like I've eaten clean food, I did not feel the usual Chinese Restaurant greasy feeling. We did take home the remainders of the bean curb skin and braised tofu. I reheated it with fresh vegetables along with adding eggs to the sticky fried rice. My tongue did tingle a bit as thought it tasted seaweed. I hope that's all it was. In any case, after so many years, I'm glad to rediscover a vegetarian Chinese restaurant without MSG and without garlic – yay! We like how clean the restaurant is. It is not super crowded which helps us feel safer. The maître d is friendly. I came back for lunch with a friend and it is good to see that they were packed for lunch on a week day. It was hard to know what dim sum to order – i.e. in terms of which items have the least amount of MSG. We ended up trying: Baked BBQ Buns, Sui Mai, Sticky Wild Rice in Bamboo Leaves, Pea Tips Rice Sheet Roll, Vegetables with Bean Curd Skin and Bean Curd Skin Roll with Bitter Melon because my friend had to have bitter melon. The stuffing of the Sui Mai was on the soft side and the texture not at all like pork or prawns – we did not recognize them as Sui Mai. I think they can learn something from the Beyond Beef makers to improve the texture. The buns of the BBQ buns were nice and soft, but the meat again was nothing like BBQ pork. My friend loved the bitter melon, but I did not. I forced myself to eat some because it is supposed to have antibacterial and antiviral properties. The pickled mustard leaves in that dish help neutralize the bitter taste. I really enjoyed the sticky wild rice in bamboo leaves and was able to take two of them home to reheat using sous vide. I think I might stock up on the lotus leave wrapped sticky rice for when I don't feel like washing the rice cooker!

UPDATE: Went here for take out dim sim on Sunday, July 30, 2023. Customer service was terrible. What happened? We placed a take out order over the telephone and was told it would be 20 minutes to pick up. We got there 30 minutes later and was told they don’t have rice noodles. What!?!? Why didn’t they tell us on the telephone when we placed the order? Or call us when they ran out of rice noodles instead of finding out when we got to the restaurant. Then we had to wait another 10-15 minutes for the chef to cook the dish. Lastly, we were also charged 50 cents for the paper bag that we didn’t want because we brought our own reusable bag but they already billed is for it ?. Thus I gave them 2 stars. Food quality was OK but customer service was awful.—————————————————————————-Excellent vegetarian dim sum here. The restaurant is spacious and seating area is not cramp. Dim sum is delicious. However, their dinner menu lacks variety. There is not much variety to choose from the menu for dinner. Service is good. Parking is limited and may need to walk a few blocks.

Food is just fantastic. We had the fried spinach noodles with vegetables, pineapple and bean curd? fried rice, spicy wontons and spring rolls. Fried rice and noodles were particularly memorable, especially mixed with their hot sauce for those who like a little more zing to their food.Vegetarian options: The whole menu is vegetarian!Dietary restrictions: You can find gluten free options for sure

A wonderful Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant. One of my favorite places to go for fresh veggie dishes, and amazing rice and noodle dishes. Their vegetarian dim sum with desserts is the best!

This is one of my favourite spots in Vancouver. The food is incredible and vegetarian/vegan friendly too. The bean curd rolls are the best thing on the menu! Highly recommend.Vegetarian options: Everything!