A Dining Adventure: 40 Restaurants in 40 Weeks: V.I.P.

This week's visit to V.I.P. prompted a lot of excitement from our 40-in-40 adventurers. For me, it was a chance to go back to a restaurant I have only been to on one other occasion. For Samer, it was his first visit. And for Tonia - well, she used to be a regular, so she was particularly excited to return. Having lived above V.I.P. in her university years, Tonia had regular V.I.P. nights with her friends (including Todd!), and it was nice listening to her fondly relay her memories of good food and great company. Little did she know back then that the tradition of food and company would continue!

At the corner of Princess and Alfred streets, V.I.P. is a Chinese restaurant that is close to Queen's campus and within walking distance for anyone wandering around downtown. A yellow building with Chinese writing that speaks to its culture on the side is hard to miss... And for those driving down Princess street from uptown, V.I.P. probably benefits from being one of the first restaurants seen before hitting the "strip" that follows. Inside, the restaurant has 2 levels of seating that are somewhat lack-lustre. Don't get me wrong - things are tidy and clean... there are nice wall hangings and accents to the atmosphere that are obviously Asian-influenced... But things are plain. The floor is checkered blue and white, chairs are black metal, tables have been topped with glass. The one true "awe factor" perhaps is the large aquarium filled with huge goldfish that you can see from each side of the restaurant; but I suppose people may have different opinions about even that. Ultimately, I think that V.I.P. has done what I believe a lot of Chinese food restaurants have done: focussed on the food.

Serving "authentic Chinese, Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine" with "prices that are second to none", V.I.P. offers patrons the option of dining in or taking out food from their extensive menu (check it out on their website found here). Whether you are looking for a combo for yourself or dishes to share, there is certainly a lot to choose from - and, to be honest, it can be a little overwhelming getting through the menu unless you have an idea of where you'd like to start. Something I would feel confident placing bets on? No matter what you order from the novel-like menu, you'll be happy. Between Tonia's stories of the past, reports of excitement from friends who heard where we were heading this week, and our happiness with dishes for our adventure this week, I think it's safe to say that happiness is a guarantee.

What am I basing this judgement on? Here's what we ordered:

Carrie: Special Combo Plate A (chicken balls and chicken fried rice served with wonton soup and an egg roll) and an order of pork chop suet to share at the table.

Todd: Special Combo Plate E (General Taos chicken and steamed rice served with wonton soup and an egg roll).

Tonia: Beef and Broccoli combo plate F served with steamed rice (which Tonia switched out for chicken fried rice), wonton soup and an egg roll.

Samer: The healthy dude in our group ordered the seafood sizzling platter (scallops, shrimp kew, squid with selected vegetables seasoned with oyster sauce). No starters for Samer... he's just too healthy. :)

While it was probably partly because the restaurant wasn't very busy, I was happy with how attentive our server (I think one of the owners?) was. She visited our table regularly and checked in to see if we were happy. Something slightly odd was the timing of food... whether our server couldn't hold more than one plate at a time, or the cooking staff weren't creating more than one plate at a time, things were delivered just like that - one-at-a-time. It remained in my mind because of how odd it was... I haven't ever seen anything quite like it before. Back and forth she went from our table to the kitchen - very brief gaps in between. That said, things were hot and fresh when they landed in front of us.

And how did those hot and fresh items taste? Overall, we were impressed. The egg rolls were a little greasier than I am used to - someone at the table said that it felt like they had put on hand cream when they finished eating it - but all in all, good feedback. Here it is:

Carrie: 4 forks. The egg roll didn't have as much flavour as others I've had, but it was much easier to bite into. I love egg rolls, but I don't like that when I bite them, all of the stuffing comes out in the first bite... here, that doesn't happen, which is nice. The wonton soup was phenomenal. The fried rice, and chicken balls were great, too - in fact, the chicken balls weren't 90% batter like other places - it was just a perfect amount. Dee-lish. The only really sad part was the pork chop suey. I don't know why, but I had imagined a bbq pork... but instead, it was proof of pork being "the other white meat" and was quite flavourless. I love chop suey, but I didn't love this one.

Todd: 3.5 forks. This time, Todd was slightly uninspired and couldn't find words to make a comment. His comment, in fact, was "No comment". I tried his General Tao chicken and thought it was pretty good. Not too spicy.

Tonia: 4.48 forks. (oh yes - 4.48). A direct quote: "Best Chinese food in town, folks!" Tonia thought that the beef with broccoli was delicious - and she definitely recommends getting it with chicken fried rice rather than steamed rice.

Samer: 4 forks. Samer really enjoyed the food and thought that it was quite good. His only comment (not affecting the score) referred to cleanliness because he was served water in a dirty glass... I hate to say it, but... it does happen.

Overall score: 3.995 forks. Not too shabby, V.I.P. In fact, perhaps I could make a really bad joke and say that you are the V.I.P. of Chinese food restaurants. Just perhaps... Maybe I could... But I won't. I swear.

Next week, our adventures are taking us to The Pilot House!