Visit #1 ·
★★★★★First time at Tsim Chai on Westminster, and I'll be honest — I walked in with low expectations because the strip mall exterior does absolutely nothing for you. That changed fast.
Ordered a few things to get a read on the place: wonton noodle soup, beef brisket noodles, and a plate of the soy sauce chicken. Classic stress test for any Cantonese noodle house. You want to see if they're cutting corners on the broth, if the wontons have enough shrimp-to-pork ratio, if the noodles have that snap that tells you they're pulling them fresh or at least handling them right.
The wonton soup held up. Broth was clean, not overly salty, with enough depth that it wasn't just hot water with MSG doing all the work. Wontons were solid — thin skin, filling that wasn't packed too tight. The beef brisket was the real standout. Tendon-to-brisket ratio was generous, and the sauce had been reduced properly. You could tell it had time on it. That's not a shortcut dish and they didn't treat it like one.
Soy sauce chicken was decent. Skin had good color, the marinade penetrated past the surface. Slight inconsistency in the cuts — some pieces were a little thicker than they should be for even seasoning — but nothing that ruined it.
Service was fast, no-frills, which is exactly right for this kind of spot. Price point was reasonable for Richmond.
This is a first visit, so I'm not drawing any conclusions yet. One meal doesn't tell you about consistency. I need to come back on a Tuesday afternoon and a Saturday lunch and see if the kitchen holds the same standard. That's when you find out what a place actually is.
But the ceiling here looks high. I'll be back.