Dinesty in Richmond

05Apr08

dinesty richmondDinesty. A name so corny I had a hard time coming up with a serious title. A few came to mind however.

“Dinesty – Cash only, just like the ancient days”
“Dinesty – Eat like a poor king”
“Dinesty – Great view of the parking lot”

The honest truth though, is that this place serves up a good menu of Shanghai and Taiwanese dishes similar to those served at Vogue or New Age Chinese Cuisine

dinesty richmondLocated on No.3 Road near Chapters, Dinesty surprisingly doesn’t have the lineups the other restaurants have on a Friday night. The interior feels amazingly spacious due to two sides of the wall being full length windows, and a large open kitchen, a feature I love since it ostensibly enhances the dining experience by involving you in the preparation process.

Menu items are competitively priced. Their specialty seems to be steamed buns. Its like the bubba gump shrimp of steamed buns. Pork buns, chive buns, juicy buns, beef buns, fried buns, buns on a stick, buns of steel, etc.

True to their reputation, the buns are pretty good.
Dinesty - Fried buns

Other dishes, I’m going to skip the literal translations. The words bun, spicy, sour, roast beef crepe roll, sweet and sour spare rib can be applied where you see fit. Let your eyes guide you.

Dinesty - Shanghai Steamed Buns Dinesty - Sweet Sour soup

Dinesty - Roast Beef rolls Dinesty - Spare Ribs

With 5 dishes and one soup coming to ~$52 with tips, I’d try it again just to sit closer to the kitchen.

Food: 8/10

Feeling good about eating food in a restaurant because you can see the dishes being prepared: ~$52 for 5 dishes and a soup with tips. (I kid, but I do like the layout)

Dinesty

Now how can I end this post without some Eat, Snap, Repeat trivia? I can’t.

The last dynasty of China was the Qing dynasty, running from 1644 – 1912. One of the best movies of all time from director Bernardo Bertelluci, The Last Emperor, poinantly illustrated the life of Puyi, the last emperor of China, and was awarded Oscars award for almost every category including best music score, which was composed by the dynamic and talented Ryuichi Sakamoto, a one time member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, who recently starred in a mesmerizing Kirin beer commercial featuring their techno pop song Rydeen. Draft Beer would’ve been great with this meal.



Dinesty Chinese on Urbanspoon


Filed under: Chinese, Richmond, Taiwanese   |  8 Comments
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8 Responses to “Dinesty in Richmond”  

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  1. 1 Nelson on April 5, 2008 said:

    I have to say, I tried watching the Last Emperor again recently, and it has not aged well.

  2. 2 dan on April 5, 2008 said:

    If that film taught me anything, its that every Chinese person in the Imperial palace spoke fluent English as recently as 70 years ago, a skill that was banished during the Cultural Revolution.

  3. 3 ed.chan on April 30, 2008 said:

    I can’t look at that image without hearing, “The mooorreee youuuu knooooow” in my head.
    Damn – I miss hearing that as I watched after-school cartoons.

  4. 4 Holly on June 27, 2008 said:

    Finallly, a restaurant where I can try juicy buns. The roast beef crepe roll looks good too.

    Thanks for the photos and review.

  5. 5 Holly on June 29, 2008 said:

    Based on your pictures and review, my firend and I tried this restaurant today. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Now I realize the juicy buns are your typical shanghai dumplings and they were ok. I was hoping to see more varieties of buns but only found the usual. We tried the chinese onion cake which was very good, crispy and just right. However, the dan dan noodles were not spicy enough. The $1.99 special at Hui Jun is better. The roast beef crepe was tasty but we only got 4 piecies, compared to the five in your photo. Watching the open kitchen provided some entertainment, but they mostly seemed like they were putting in a half hearted effort and weren’t really enjoying what they were doing.

    Overall, I probably would not return as there are better shanghai restaurants in Richmond.

  6. 6 dan on June 30, 2008 said:

    Holly, sorry to hear I’ve misguided you guys into a unsatisfying dinner. Looks like I need more experience with Shanghainese food to be a better judge of quality :)
    Care to suggest a few good ones?
    I just tried Shanghai Wonderful restaurant across from Landsdowne mall last week, but it was more suited for larger parties and we didn’t get very good value with just 2 people.

  7. 7 ed.chan on July 6, 2008 said:

    I hit up Dinesty a few days ago. Not bad.
    The proportions are generous and the prices are very reasonable. The open kitchen is both unique (for a restaurant in Richmond) and reassuring.
    I think I like it even more than Vogue, although Vogue has some spicy dishes that I really like.

    I agree about Shanghai Wonderful. I went last year it was pretty forgettable.

  8. 8 604foodtography on February 18, 2009 said:

    I like it. :)


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