5 Best Things from MYST Asian Fusion - Burnaby

Hey guys! A new restaurant has appeared in the Burnaby dining scene. MYST Asian Fusion, as the name suggests, offers a menu that touches Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese cuisines. With so much happening, it can be hard to know what to order. Luckily, I was invited to a media tasting hosted by ChineseBites to try a ton of dishes from the menu prior to the restaurant's grand opening. To see what’s available and my top picks, read past the jump.

Disclosure: This was a complimentary ChineseBites tasting and all opinions are my own.

Food:

I feel pretty fortunate when I can taste a large portion of the menu since I feel I have a more definitive experience. MYST’s menu is huge though, so even these were just a paltry subset of what’s available at this restaurant

• Skewers
  
• Pork Intestine ($2.25/each)
• Lamb ($2.25/each)
• Pork ($2.25/each)
• Chicken ($2.25/each)
• Fish Cake ($3.50/each)
• Chicken Gizzard ($2.25/each)
• Delicious Sandwiches ($7.50)
  
• Assorted Deep Fried Basket ($18.95)
  
• Deep Fried Ginger Flavour Chicken Whole Wings ($6.95/3 pieces)
  
• Japanese Takoyaki ($6.95)
  
• Marinated 3 Item Combo (Seaweed, Dried Tofu, Pork Ear String) ($15.85)
  
• MYST Beef Noodle Soup (Shank, Tripe, Tendon) ($12.95)
  
• TaiNan Style Egg Noodle Soup ($9.50)
  
• Preserved Cabbage with Shredded Pork Fried Rice Cake ($10.95)
  
• Taiwanese Style Fried Rice Vermicelli ($11.50)
  
• MYST Deluxe Marinated Pork with Rice ($11.95)
  
• Japanese Style Egg Fried Rice ($11.50)
  
• House Special Spicy Lamb Hot Pot ($13.50)
  
• Beef Cake Roll ($7.50)
  
• Steamed Sticky Rice Dumplings ($7.95)
  
• Chives & Shrimp Spring Rolls ($7.95)
  
• Chives, Shrimp & Pork Dumplings ($8.50)
  
• Fried Chicken in Chili Pepper ($14.95/large)
  
• Golden Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk ($16.95/large)
  
• Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork ($13.95/large)
  
• Strawberry Shaved Snowflake ($10.95)
  
• Hakka Style Sweet Rice Cake ($5.25/3pcs)
  
• MYST Taiyaki ($5.75)
  
• MYST Jelly ($1.95)
  

And my top 5 are as follows:

1. Deep Fried Ginger Flavour Chicken Whole Wings
2. House Special Spicy Lamb Hot Pot
3. Assorted Deep Fried Basket
4. Various Skewers
5. Strawberry Shaved Snowflake

The Deep Fried Ginger Flavour Chicken Whole Wings is one mouthful to say, but these were juicy chicken wings that were and very finger-friendly. It’s almost comical that they were served on a leafy leaf of lettuce but the batter actually had a ginger punch so you might want to skip dipping the sauce once to enjoy the ginger more. 

Moving onto something with a bit more heat, the House Special Spicy Lamb Hot Pot was a treat. Seated atop an open flame, this hot pot's broth left a slight numbing sensation that went great with the side dishes which included pickles and rice. The lamb meat was also plentiful and quite tender for a hot pot dish if you could stand the heat.

I’m a big fan of fried Taiwanese foods so the Assorted Deep Fried Basket was a no-brainer for me to include on this list. The woven basket was real, and this almost had a seaside feel to it with the checkered paper liner. Our basket came with deep fried chicken, squid tentacles, and rice cakes. With the crisp batter and tender innards, the tentacles and chicken were my favourites out of the three.

It looks like I’m leaning towards fried nightmarket-esque foods now because I’m including the Skewers on my top 5. These are included because they’re priced about the same as what you’d find at a nightmarket but without you suffering the smell of barbecue sticking to your clothes. I reckon Pork Intestine is not on everyone’s to-eat list, but I found it quite interesting. It’s a very chewy piece of meat so get ready for a jaw exercise. Otherwise, the chicken and lamb skewers I had were very tender with just the right amount of seasoning (ie. a lot).

On the dessert side, the Strawberry Shaved Snowflake was my highlight. This dessert cashes in on the dry ice gimmick where mist flows out of the bowl, but I think this restaurant is probably the only one that can justify the gimmick and turn it into something meaningful. How appropriate is it that the restaurant called MYST serves a dessert that oozes out mist? After the 20 second show of mist, the shaved ice was a milky ice which is the kind I like. The strawberries weren’t as sour as I was expecting, and these guys seem to understand my need for condensed milk with shaved ice. Bravo.

Features:

MYST is a pretty large restaurant in the Highgate neighbourhood of Burnaby. The interior is a completely renovated space with modern woods and large TVs. Seating-wise, there looks to be space for over 90 guests with booths, tables, and a private room (with yet another large TV). The space is very well lit and the lights even fade to blue at night so it’s almost like being in a nightclub.

Service:

As this was a ChineseBites tasting, the food was flying out nonstop and the servers did a good job delivering everything fresh and hot. I’d be eager to come back and experience a regular dinner service. There did seem to be just enough servers for the amount of people though. On a Thursday evening, this place was already bumping for dinner service, so I would recommend coming here with a party no greater than 6. Any bigger and you should probably reserve a table.

Final Thoughts:

One-liner: Fun mix of cuisines but my favourites all come from the Taiwanese sector
Highlight: Any of my top 5
Price per person: $13-25
Would I go back? Yes.

Enjoyed this review of MYST? For more ChineseBites tasting reviews, you might be interested in No. 1 Beef Noodle House! If you're looking for my opinion on any items not described, leave a comment below.