New Fishport – A Seafood Bistro Lacking True Backbone in Vancouver [REVIEW]
It's kind of crazy to say this but what is going on with the operation of New Fishport that they can allow smoking to happen on-premises? It's sad that this overshadowed my food experience but when 20% of my primary senses are clouded, it's harder to enjoy food. We'll talk about the food in today's review but it's really unfortunate that a new Chinese restaurant I was looking forward to trying allowed smoking to be a part of a VIP table's experience which negatively affected mine.
Food:
Team Food Blogger came here for a Friday night dinner and I had a great taste of the following:
- Crab Meat with Fish Maw Soup ($16.80)
- Baked Lobster with Glutinous Rice (荷香珍珠焗龍蝦) ($98.80)
- Fried Shrimp Cake (大良煎蝦餅) ($25.80)
- Shrimp Sauce with Pork Belly (大澳蝦膏五花腩) ($26.80)
- Sweet and Sour Pork (菠蘿甜酸咕咾肉) ($23.80)
- Fried Cauliflower with Preserved Pork (臘味炒菜花) ($23.80)
- Full Soy Sauce Chicken (鎮店豉油雞) ($36)
Kicking off the meal was a crab meat with fish maw soup. This was served out of a large bowl by the server and we were given a white pepper shaker and small bowl of vinegar to add some pizazz. No need though – the crab meat was generous and the flavour was enough intensity to carry it on its own.
The biggest dish of the night was the baked lobster with glutinous rice. This was a pretty solid serving of lobster priced below par other Chinese restaurants but the meat felt a little light to compensate. The lotus leaf that the lobster was served on was a bit frayed in places which tore a little bit too easily when one was scooping up some rice.
The biggest disappointment of this meal was the fried shrimp cake. This felt more like a giant omelette and I was thinking of something that was actually crispy. I can't recommend this if you're looking for a shrimp dish.
Another dish that missed the mark for me was the shrimp sauce with pork belly. This pork belly was incredibly chewy and hard to get down in a reasonable amount of time. The shrimp sauce delivered on flavour but the amount of chewing needed meant you were swallowing down a pretty tough piece of meat when all was said and done.
On the sweet and sour pork, which we ordered to measure as a baseline for other dishes, this wasn't anything to write home about. I felt most pieces were on the fattier side so there wasn't much lean meat to balance out the sweet and sour notes. At least the plate was on the nicer side.
The fried cauliflower with preserved pork was quite satisfying. The cauliflower had a good crunch and with the salty pork mixed in, this dish was a good time.
The soy sauce chicken was another highlight in flavour but certainly not in expectation. We had a person at the table who was looking to hang out with friends but wanted to order their own dish to adhere to their preferred diet. We asked the staff for the soy sauce chicken to come first and they didn't do anything to suggest that wouldn't be the case. The soy sauce chicken ended up coming last. The behaviour from the staff was a little sketchy in this transaction which left a terrible taste in my mouth and the stomach of our friend very empty for almost an hour as other food whipped out of the kitchen and onto our table.
Features:
New Fishport Seafood Bistro takes up residence in what was undoubtedly another Chinese restaurant. There are a collection of round and square tables in the main dining room as well as a VIP room on the side. The staff asked me for my vaccine passport, did not scan it, and did not ask me for a second piece of ID. Inside the main dining was room for seating about 60 guests.
Service:
During our dinner, another party came in and was seated in the VIP room, after which the door to was closed. However soon enough, I could smell a scent of cigarettes flowing out of the room because my table was just outside the VIP room. The smell was so intense that other people had to cover their noses as they made visits to the bathroom which required them to pass by the VIP room. In addition, staff found the smell uncomfortable.
At some point, I could guess a back door being opened because crisp autumn air began flowing into the dining room to ventilate the cigarette-filled air out, but the smoking was non-stop from our dinner seating from 7pm-9pm and very uncomfortable to sit through.
I sympathize for the restaurant if they never saw the cigarettes coming – people can be jerks. However, the staff made no effort to apologize to us for the inconvenience nor did they put a stop to it once it was apparent the VIP room was lighting up multiple rounds of cigarettes. It was very disappointing to see the restaurant be a bystander for the sake of selling a VIP room dinner. No backbone to see here.
Final Thoughts:
One-liner: Very average Chinese food that deems it acceptable to stand by while smokers light up a VIP room with cigarettes
Highlight: Fried Cauliflower with Preserved Pork
Price per person: $30-$60
Would I go back? No.