Golden Phoenix Chinese Restaurant

This bad photo streak really has to end. Really; I'm going to tell you guys right now, all these photos. Are terrible. I'm sorry for the eyesore. We arrived at this lunch late, and some dishes had already arrived when we came to visit the Golden Phoenix Seafood Restaurant. Not wanting to disturb the lunch too much, I snapped pictures as quick as I could;;
But enough about my failures, let's take a look at the restaurant, yus?

Golden Phoenix seems to be one of the few places around here that still uses the pushcart system. It made me smile. Oh the nostalgic pang~

Shrimp spring rolls. One of the number of dishes that was already on the table. Despite the time it spent cooling down, the wrapper was still crisp, although the shrimp was nothing special in my opinion.

Deep fried prawns. Another dish that had been sitting a while on the table. Standard, although an old standby favourite.

Shrimp croquette -- served with a sweet and sour sauce (?). Here as well when we got there. Uhg; we have such a terrible tendency to be late to get togethers. Again, standard; shrimp filling had that overdone feel that most chinese restaurants seem to do their shrimp to, but I liked these. What can I say. Breaded. Sweet.

Aand Deep Fried Squid, which was also on the table when we arrived. I think it's safe of you to assume that yes, the squid was a gummy texture. A combination of fast chinese style restaurants, push-cart dimsum, and sitting dishes is bound to give overdone seafood; To their credit, it still held deep-fried crispness.

After trying out the dishes that were already set out on the table, we decided to order a bit more. Starting with the Sui Mai, this was average of a chinese dim sum restaurant. However, I noticed that it was, like the dishes that were already on the table, only slightly warm. I was willing to believe that the dishes on the table had cooled down, but with the next few dishes also being lukewarm, I'm decided that the fault laid on the pushcart style of serving.

Har gow. Standard. Again with the pushcart system, only mildly warm.

Chicken Ginger Soup. It has an interesting flavour, pungent with ginger, and abundant in chicken and golgi berries (I think? wolfberries? Those orange seedlike pods floating there?). Not quite my cup of tea, and I can't say I have this often, but I won't say it was bad (mostly because I can't).

Tripe, I did not try this; Now, it's not to say I won't eat tripe. It's just that I was much more inclined to save stomach room for these following dishes..:

Mexican Bun topped Cha Siu Bao<3. If this is ever on a dimsum menu at any restaurant, you'll be sure that I'll order it. Although the topping was abundantly topped with sugar, there was very little filling within the bun, which was rather disappointing..

Sticky Rice Ball -- black sesame seed filling. Another favourite of mine!

Again, pretty standard. However, again due to the pushcart system, it had been out for quite a while, and all the filling seemed to simply sink and coagulate at the bottom of the sesame ball..

Butter Milk Buns. Yes, we ordered a lot of sweet dishes that day, that'd be my fault. But that'd be the appeal of the pushcart system! They pass by, you see an old favourite, and you've just got to get it~.

I was actually expecting it to have a more liquid filling; but the style of making this dish differs I believe from place to place.. (I think;;). Still fairly alright, although perhaps having it go around the room a few times in a pushcart left the filling a little drier than preferred.

The last dessert dish we grabbed was the Tapioca Pudding. I just love the crumble topping! Sugary goodness, mm.

It had an abundant amount of red bean filling to accompany, and I enjoyed that very much. I swear, if it had actually come out fresh and warm, it would be very good.

All in all I feel that this restaurant for dim-sum is nothing greater than average. I have heard their dinners are a lot better, but unless you want to come here to feel the nostalgic pushcart atmosphere (and hey. It can be fun.), I'd say stick to their dinner menu. Being near the kitchen entrance, I saw some of the same dishes (by which I mean the same very plate) come in and out multiple times throughout the whole meal, so you know there are definitely going to be some plates that just won't be all too fresh.. Still, they do an alright job, just no wow factor;;