The Lucky Gate restaurant (best northern Chinese food in town; according to their menu) is located in a kind of nondescript, rundown block of Austin Avenue in Coquitlam.
And, the fact of the matter is, they make some of the best Chinese food I have had out here in the burbs.
For lunch today my date and I started with a plate of 10 seafood dumplings ($5.59).
The dumplings were, in the words of my date, delicious. All too often when I order dumplings they come with too much liquid inside that is slowly leaking out making a soggy mess on the plate. Not here.
A perfectly “meaty” filling inside of the ultra tender dumpling skin. The dumplings were a very nice opening act to the meal.
shortly after the dumplings arrived, our order of “fried green beans with Szechuan” was ready for us.
I do have to say that I was a little surprised that the server who took my order did not mention that the dish is loaded with flakes of red pepper and the occasional fireball of an entire red pepper. I only say this because my lunch partner was one of my four year old daughters. However, she tried them and politely told me they were “a little too spicy and to get them off my plate.”
I was more than willing to take the beans off her plate because they were exactly how I like them; quickly cooked over extreme heat so that they are crispy and snap when you bite into them. The red peppers added just the right spice to the meal for my mature taste. (The plate of beans was $8.99).
The reason we went to Lucky Gate was because my daughter was going wild asking for noodles. I had heard this place makes a good noodle dish. Our choice today was the assorted vegetable chow mein.
Nice thick worm like noodles that are perfect for little girls to grab onto. Small florets of broccoli and some of those weird and wild looking mushrooms…yummy! I didn’t want the mushrooms to get cold so I ate them off the serving plate as soon as it landed on our table.
They are great when they are hot! They have a very pleasant snap to them as you bite through.
The noodles were a hit with my lunch partner and with me. Full flavour without being too salty. For $10.99, they pleased my palate perfectly.
Overall, this place is a gem. I would like to return here again with a larger group of people so that I could try a greater variety of the dishes they offer. The service was friendly and polite and they treated my little lunch date with many smiles and much patience. Yes, we will return to the the Lucky Gate Restaurant.
