Shanghai Elan Restaurant (Burnaby)

Shanghai Elan, which took over the space from the old Pittsburgh HK Café, has been a new hot spot for Shanghai Cuisine in Burnaby. As the words get out, the business seemed to be doing very well with people lining up all the time. Knowing it was going to be another busy night there, we made a reservation to avoid waiting in line. That was a smart move!

By the time we got there, there were at least 4 more group of people waiting for a table. We quickly decided what we’re ordering so we wouldn’t have to wait long for our dishes. For simplicity, we chose from one of their set menus and added a few more items.

Cold Items Duo

Egg Yolk with Duck Meat
Starting out with some cold dishes, the egg yolk with duck meat was quite interesting. The marinated duck meat covered the cooked egg yolk in the middle. It wasn’t overly salty as a whole, not even if you only eat the eat yolk – I like it.

tewed Wheat Gluten
We haven’t had this for a while and it was very well stewed and flavourful. The overall flavour was more toward the sweeter side but we were fine with it. The only downside was the oiliness.

Jelly Pork

I like this jelly pork where the jelly was off to one side and the pork was the majority part. It was a very good much with dark vinegar.

Hot & Sour Soup w/ Chicken & Shrimp

The hot and sour soup came with quite a bit of content – not just pour soup. It wasn’t overly spicy or sour so I like it quite a bit.

Deep Fried Prawns w/ Rice Wine

The deep fried prawns had a very crispy shell, which you could just digest the whole without peeling it off. It had a strong sweet soy sauce taste and definitely went well with a ball of rice. Otherwise, it would be too salty to eat along.

Xiao Long Bao

There were 6 xiao long bao in the order. Each of them was meaty and juicy. The bun skin was thin and it tasted fresh. It was definitely very enjoyable.

Pan Fried Bamboo Fungi & Bean Curd Skin w/ Veggie

The bamboo fungi and bean curd was pan fried with sauce, then poured over the hot boiled veggie. The overall taste was quite balance.

Shanghai Style Fish Filet w/ Fungus

Usually the dish would have a bit more kick from vinegar, and I found this one lacking of. It offered a fairly strong rice wine taste and I thought it was a bit too gooey.

Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

This was definitely the dish to go with rice. The pork was braised in sweet soy sauce, along with bean curd twists and deep fried egg. I thought the deep fried egg was quite interesting.

Fried Rice

Just so that we have a bit of rice to go with the dishes, we ordered the fried rice as oppose to plain rice. It wasn’t anything out of ordinary.

Mini Ball in Rice Wine Soup

For dessert, we were given the mini rice ball in rice wine soup from our set menu. The rice balls were soft yet maintained the chewiness of how the rice ball would be. The rice wine soup wasn’t overly sweet – a perfect finish for the meal.

It was a very fulfilling meal and we enjoyed almost all the dishes that we had. Compare to some other Shanghai cuisine restaurants, I found Shanghai Elan to be on the less salty side. Many of the dishes were rather sweet, which is one of the characteristics of Shanghai cuisine. And it seemed like they gradually started to build up their customer base. Aside from the tasty dishes, I guess the dishes are reasonable priced which also serve them as a big plus. Have a visit yourself and see how you like it.