Fortune Terrace Chinese Cuisine: Fancy dimsum in Richmond

Fortune Terrace Chinese Cuisine ( 福满楼 ) is a Chinese restaurant in Richmond specializing in Cantonese dishes (i.e. mainly from Hong Kong instead of Mainland China).

Some of you may know that I am Chinese (surprise?) and so I actually very rarely go out to eat at Chinese restaurants since I can have homemade Chinese food at home. My family did come here for fancy dim sum.

Dim sum is usually prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on a small plate. Dim sum dishes are usually served with tea and together form a full tea brunch. Think of it as Chinese high tea.

Fortune Terrace is known for offering more special and unique dim sum dishes, so this review will show some of those dishes.

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Interior

I quite like the interior for a Chinese restaurant. We went to dim sum on a Sunday afternoon so of course it was bursting with people and large circular tables of families.

Interesting backdrop is that they have a gigantic digital screen in the back of the restaurant where they play videos of beaches and waterfalls.

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Food

Stuffed whole eggplant in thai sauce ($8.80)

This dish is really yummy. Similar to a sweet & spicy thai chili sauce (or a sweet & sour sauce), they stuff the eggplant with shrimp and then deep fry it. The eggplant is cooked to very soft and flavourful, and the crunchy batter gives it a nice texture. If you like sweet & sour pork (basic lol), I highly recommend this.

Deep fried tofu in Hong Kong style ($9.80)

Classic little deep fried tofu. These are small little squares (sometimes you order them and they are huge) and judging from their appearance, Fortune Terrace adds more black sesame seeds to the batter on the outside. Inside, the tofu is soft. My only comment is that I kind of wish it came with a sauce (a little dry), but conventionally this dish never comes with a sauce.

Deep fried minced taro roll ($12.80)

A unique dish in its own, this plate almost gives off a Japanese fusion vibe. The taro is minced and deep fried with a little bit of laver wrapped around it. The deep fried texture makes it delicious and savoury. Inside, the taro is warm and fluffy and the saltiness from the laver helps elevate it.

Truffle lobster crispy rice rolls ($9.80)

I am very excited to try this dish because it has truffle and lobster. It looks like a sushi roll because the rice roll is dyed red, which makes it a unique dim sum dish.

I can’t really taste the truffle too much, but the lobster along with the red rice roll and a thin layer of something deep-fried makes for a very nice explosion of flavour in my mouth.

Truffle siu mai ($8.80)

Siu mai is a Chinese dumpling, usually stuffed with pork and shrimp and maybe other fillings. This siu mai has a dab of truffle on top which makes it fabulous. Unforunately, I can’t really taste the truffle again and so it’s hard to tell how different it is from your average siu mai from any other Chinese restaurant.

Sweet potato ladies handbags crisp ($8.80)

This dish is probably the most unique of all because of its presentation. Let me tell you that Asian aunties love their purses, so having them decorate them like purses is both hilarious and fun at the same time. They always use the same 3 brands – Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

So what actually is this? The outside is deep fried sweet potato with a sesame coating at the top. No idea what sauce they use to make the brand logos. Inside, it is a sweet potato filling. I love potatoes and this is such a yummy and cute dish.

Almond souffle ($8.80)

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This dessert is very popular at Fortune Terrace. It is a giant souffle made to look like a big raindrop, topped with almond flakes at the top. When they bring it to you, the whole plate is jiggling.

They cut it into different pieces to share and inside it is just souffle – fluffy egg whites. The taste is similar to an angel food cake.

Once you put a piece into your mouth, you will feel that it seems to shrink just a little. After that, it tastes like you are eating a light fluffy cloud.

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Final thoughts

It was fun to try a new dim sum place. I find that my family usually orders the same things every time, but at Fortune Terrace, we were able to try some special dishes that we wouldn’t usually order.

Their special dishes stand out in terms of aesthetics – from the turtle-shaped BBQ buns to a giant almond souffle. They use different colours and animals to make the food fun.

In regards to the use of truffle, I have to admit that things wouldn’t have tasted too different with or without the addition of truffle. Seems like just a simple way to elevate a dish without having to change anything. My advice is to give it a try, but don’t let the word “truffle” entice you too much.

Price-wise they are above average for a dim sum place. This may just be because we ordered their specialty dishes and not just the regular dim sum choices.

Service-wise, I don’t usually comment because Chinese restaurants have a totally different standard of service (i.e. like no service). However, I do want to at least compliment them on one thing – we got our table on time. Normally, even if you have a reservation, they will make you wait. But not here! Even though they were very busy, we got seated right on time.

Sincerely, Loewe