Star Wok

1 Reviews on “Star Wok”

• Prince Gastronome

  I received the all-time best fortune cookie from Star Wok. It read There are coincidences. No uninspiring platitudes, no disingenuous vague spirituality, no pie in the sky optimism. There are coincidences. How perfect in its simplicity, my mantra in life, recognizing that receiving said fortune was itself also a coincidence. The other fortune read Relationships is like fingers of you hand, (verbatim) which made my brain hurt.It must be coincidence given Star Wok is now the third (maybe even fourth) Chinese restaurant to occupy this space. The previous one was the sorely missed JK, like Ledger, gone before its time. The dcor is virtually unchainedperhaps a slight whiff, a hint, a soupon if you will, of additional ethnicity, maybe in the tables. We arrived in the afternoon, three of us, with the knowledge that Star Wok offered fresh dim sum. I have a complicated history with the cuisine, having enjoyed it while touring the motherland with a then girlfriend native to Guangzhou. Its one of the reasons why I contemplated moving to a larger cityjust so I can take in some ethnic variety in my cuisine. Prince George has thankfully grown in the past few years, and Star Wok could be one of the most progressive examples of an optimistic future in this city. Until this point, the only dim sum to be found were frozen imports at the local Chinese store (unbelievably called The Chinese Store) or offered at another restaurant that pulled their stock from the said store. Neither was very good. Dim sum is like tapas; it requires a group. You order a half-dozen (or ten) plates and share them with friends. I especially relish the stacks of bamboo steamers looming by your table like the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees (pay my obscure Chinese references no mind). The more people, the taller the tower. Of course, you could just do what we did and order way too many.How did that come about? The menu is slightly confusing; only one entry has a price, and a confusing conversation with the owner gave the impression that each plate was $4.95, a great value if it was true. Although most are that price, and fantastic deals worthy of recommendation, some are more expensive, and its not immediately obvious which are which. One we ordered ended up being $18.95. It wasnt even very good, and adding all the plates together, the final bill for the three of us broke the needle past $100. Part of that was our mistake. Not everything connected, but given the nearly dozen plates (we were dumb), more connected than not, a shotgun approach. But enough preamble, what did we order?Big breathChrystal shrimp dumplings. Deep-fried sesame balls. Teo chew dumplings. Beef balls. Shrimp spring rolls. Egg yolk creamy bun. Steamed BBQ bun. Shanghai steamed Bun. Deep fried meat puff. Siu Mai. Chinese sausage roll. Steamed beef rice roll. Singapore rice noodle. Braised pork with preserved vegetables. The majority was amazing, so much so that Im compiling a list of my favorites when I return. It took some time for the plates to arrive, but that was because they were made to order. Perfection requires patience. It was a lot of food, inflated by duplicate plates and unordered items we were not charged for. A fantastic experience to be sure. Certainly, there were misses, but the hits were home runs. Like Merrill in the movie Signs said, Felt wrong not to swing. Star Wok swings as hard as it can every time, and for that, it will have my loyalty and patronage. I exclaimed its predecessor JK as one of the best westernized Chinese restaurants in town, and with Star Wok, that title is maintained. Disclaimerthis review was based on their dim sum, not their traditional western Chinese dishes.Food: 3.5/5Service: 4/5Presentation: 4/5Value: 5/5Recommendation: 4/5

  March 28, 2017, 2:22 pm

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