Jin Jiang: Shanghai Restaurant in Burnaby
Jin Jiang is a Shanghainese restaurant located in Burnaby inside a Best Western hotel. I’ve come here a few times with my family to eat Chinese cuisine here. This review is based on an in-dining experience.
Interior
The space of the restaurant is actually quite large. The inside is very classic Chinese restaurant with fish tanks out in the open, circle tables with white tablecloths and a small glass table that can rotate the dishes around. Chairs are black leather and cushiony, so quite comfortable.
Food
We order several dinner dishes to share. Note that prices are based off of Ubereats prices, I didn’t take any photos of the menu and they don’t have a website! Expect Ubereat prices to be slightly higher than if you were to dine in.
Bonus points: their menu has photos for everything – very helpful if you are not familiar with Chinese dishes! They also designed the menu in a way that still looks classy and not ugly.
Sweet & sour rock cod ($30)
This is probably my favourite dish at this restaurant and it’s why I come back. It’s your classic sweet & sour pork sauce except on a deep fried rock cod! The entire fish can be eaten without any worries about choking on a fish bone because it’s deep fried so well. It is crunchy and savoury and I love the taste of sweet & sour.
Also, the presentation is stunning!
Deep fried thick noodle with seafood ($20)
This is another classic Chinese dish I like a lot. The noodles are deep fried and then they pour this seafood mirin-like sauce over it. The noodles don’t lose its nice crunchiness but it also doesn’t taste dry. There’s quite a lot of seafood on here, I especially like the size of the prawns. One weird thing is that I thought some of the items were scallops but they were actually slices of fish ball (not usually in this dish).
Green beans with minced pork ($18)
Another dish I really like and it’s mostly vegetable (surprising!). This dish is supposed to be slightly spicy but I thought Jin Jiang used a different sauce or something because it tasted a little different from how they usually taste. I’m not sure if it’s a Shanghainese version where they use a different sauce or if they made a mistake.
Pan-fried egg white and seafood on vegetable ($24)
My mom likes to order this dish and I think it’s quite unique. It’s supposed to look like a giant bowl of crab meat, but it’s actually fluffy egg whites with some crab meet mixed in. You are supposed to pour in the red vinegar into the egg whites and mix it around a bit, which turns the colour slightly pinky/red and makes it look even more like crab meat.
A good dish for pescatarians!
BBQ pork and shrimp fried rice ($20)
This is a simple fried rice we chose because a lot of Chinese dishes are better when paired with rice, but I also needed lunch the next day sooooo. Anyways, pretty basic and simple. My mom commented that the “wok hay” is quite good because of how flavourful and dry the fried rice is (not oily or greasy).
Chinese donuts ($)
We had these for desserts and I’m actually not sure if it’s complimentary or if we paid for them (they don’t appear in the Ubereats menu under desserts). They are similar to Chinese donuts and coated in sugar. I can only eat one as I am already too full from dinner, but it is a nice treat because I’m not really into Chinese porridge-like desserts (red bean, green bean, etc.).
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญโญโญโญ
We had an enjoyable dinner at Jin Jiang with my parents. We mostly finished everything but I had leftovers for lunch the next day too.
Again, my favourite dish is the sweet & sour rock cod and I highly recommend you to order it if you visit Jin Jiang. The second dish I would recommend is the egg white and vegetable dish because of its uniqueness. Everything else we ordered can be found in many Chinese restaurants as they are more classic/common dishes.
Service is what it is – I find that Chinese restaurants often times have terrible service unless you speak Chinese/know the servers. I felt like for the most part nobody bothered us and when we asked for the bill, it was prompt so nothing to complain about. Just don’t expect anyone to ask you if everything tastes ok.
Sincerely, Loewe