I have a few coworkers that really like dim sum at Silver Dragon in Chinatown. I have been here once for dinner many years ago, so I thought it was about time I gave them another shot – but for dim sum instead of dinner. Located on the 2nd floor, this huge restaurant seats a lot of people and it actually fills up!
I love this place as it’s a good traditional place. They give you a stamp card and they stamp the price range of the dish you order, and they actually come around in carts. My modern places give you a menu and you select what you want to eat, and it’s not traditional at all. So, once the first few carts came by, our table was filled. We started with their Fried Pork Dumplings which had a nice texture and skin, but the filling was lacking a bit. It was fried really nicely and tasted good – so I won’t complain!
We then ordered an old time favorite of ours, the BBQ Pork Rice Crepes which was really nice. The soy sauce was good, the rice crepe was awesome and the bbq pork tasted great. Overall, we loved this dish!
Buns are something we like to order, but we try to limit the amount we get as they are pretty filling. We ordered BBQ Pork Bun, but they ended up giving us Chicken Steamed Bun which was alright and something I like, and I even like to make at home. The chicken filling was delicious and I’ve always loved the ginger taste and scent in the buns, so it worked well that we got this little mistake!
Perhaps I’m a little more traditional, but I really enjoy Chicken Feet and I order it everywhere I go – almost! I did from here and I got to say the flavours was a little dull and over cooked. it didn’t stop me from eating the entire dish, but it was just my personal preference for it to have a stronger flavour and it not being so mushy.
It’s also quite traditional of us to order some Steamed Beef Balls and this one they said it was “dry steamed” which looked more like a shao mi, but it did taste different. We loved it as it is a dish that isn’t too common in dim sum restaurants.
Because of the steamed beef balls looking like shao mi, we decided we needed an order of Shao Mi which is a steamed pork dumpling. It was pretty tasty and it does look quite different.
I know, we ordered a lot of food for 2 people, and no we were not done! We can’t go anywhere without some tasty Steamed Spare Ribs and they did an amazing job here. It wasn’t too greasy, the pieces weren’t too fatty and the flavours was exciting!
Then, I have been wanting some Sticky Rice also known as Lo Mai Fan (not in Lotus leaves) as it’s something I don’t really make – if ever! I find I under cook my glutenous rice then I don’t like it. But, they steamed their rice really well here and it tasted pretty good, but perhaps needs a little more soy sauce or salt. We did have some sauces on the table and so I just added a little – then it was perfect! It satisfied my craving!
We were now ready to go. We were completely stuffed… and then one special cart came by with some Pot Stickers or Pan fried dumplings which is something I just love and adore. We ordered a plate… and ate it all up! The skin was really nice and although on the thicker side, it was delicate. Perfectly pan fried and the pork filling was amazing! The perfect way to end our dim sum adventure here.
Overall, it was nice sitting down having a nice traditional dim sum experience in Calgary. The owners were Chinese (Cantonese) and apparently has been around for many years. The food was decent, and the prices was quite good! It was a better than expected dim sum!
Silver Dragon Restaurant
106 3 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 264-5326