There’s a bit of a back story for this restaurant.
There was a chinese restaurant on Naniamo street, just off Broadway called Golden Phoenix. It was one of my parent’s favorite places for yum-cha.
It closed in 2011, apparently because of an expired lease and an intractable landlord. The result was “Golden Phoenix” closed. The proprietors and staff decided to reopen, seven blocks up the street at Naniamo and 2nd Avenue. In the meantime, the landlord set up his own restaurant in the same vacated by “Golden Phoenix”, naming it “Phoenix Garden”. Which only serves to increase the confusion.
Chicken feet in special sauce. Cindy’s does this fairly well, with a richly flavored sauce. The black beans, while present, are more of a garnish, and an integral part of the sauce.
These pork spare ribs are tender and the sauce isn’t so much a black bean sauce (there might be 8-9 black beans scattered about in there) as it is a garlic and black bean sauce. Some places add slices of hot chili peppers in this dish, but Cindy’s doesn’t do this.
These taro root dumplings are stuffed with a savoury minced pork, and the whole thing is deep-fried until crispy on the outside.
Although labeled as pork dumplings on the menu, they have shrimp in them as well. Cindy’s are notable for their “puffy”(almost airy) texture, for lack of a better description. The photo doesn’t grant scale very well, but these dumplings are quite large.
These egg tarts have a fabulously light flaky pastry shell, and a very creamy egg custard filling. Actually, the custard has a more milky flavor than an eggy flavor.
Rice flour rolls, stuffed with shrimp, drizzled with a sweet soy. A very straightforward and simple dish, executed well.
Barbecued pork pastries. The rich short crust pastry here melts in your mouth.
bean curd rolls stuffed with pork and shrimp. I’m probably not the best commentator on this item, it’s not one of my favorites.
Shrimp dumplings. In the same manner as the pork dumplings mentioned before, these shrimp dumplings are quite large. The rice flour wrappers on these are excellent, firm enough to hold the filling, but thin enough to not be gummy.
shinyandbright 