O Mei Restaurant

Tonight we spent part 4 of my wife’s birthday dinners over at O Mei Restaurant in Richmond Hill.  This place was highly recommended for their big fish, crab and lobster dishes not to mention their fat tiu cheung delicacy soup. 

We got there with reservations and the staff was very nice in accommodating us.  They made sure that everyone was here before they started making our dishes.  We decided to go with the lobster special, their fat tiu cheung and a vegetable.  FYI, the first two dishes are quite pricey where the lobster was at $20 dollars a pound and with a nine plus pound lobster, that was $180.00 right there.  As well, each bowl of fat tiu cheung is $25 each. 

They scooped our lobster out of the tank and showed it to us prior to serving.  This on record will be one of the largest lobsters I would ever have eaten.  They brought it to the back and within ten minutes brought out the first dish of four.  The first one was made of vermicelli and onion mixed with lobster meat.  It was delicious.  The taste was nice.   Not too much MSG but nice and light.  They certainly did not over do this dish and allowed the lobster to give it its flavor. 

9 lb Lobster

Lobster with Vermicelli

Lobster Cooked in Onion Sauce

 

The second lobster dish was a fried lobster.  They took mostly the arms and body and fried it in a light batter with bits of spicy pepper and onion.  Very delicious and the spiciness was not so much that it would make it difficult to eat.  The batter wasn’t too oily or fattening.  This was good because it allowed one to enjoy the lobster meat and the true taste of the lobster. 

The next lobster dish was a special onion sauce mixed with the lobster.  This was very, very tasty but probably just a tad on the salty side.  To prepare this dish, the head, claws and tail were used to mixed the lobster meat with the sauce.  This one was probably the highest in flavor and MSG but it was too good to past and having this once in a while is not a bad idea. 

The last lobster dish was the lobster meat and membrane mixed with fried rice.  The chef added some onions and egg white to give a good dish.  It was wonderful.  Very little oil and nicely fried, it made it a wonderful final dish to go with all the great food. 

We also ordered some snow peas mixed with mushroom.  The mushrooms were so “slippery” and smooth and tasty that it was absolutely amazing.  The snow peas were perfectly done.  It was mixed slightly with garlic sauce.  Absolutely no complaints here. 

Lobster in Onion Sauce

Fried Peppers with Lobster

Fat Tiu Cheung - aka Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Snow Peas Shoot with Mushrooms

 

Fat Tiu Cheung which is also known as Buddha Jump Over Wall is a delicate soup that contains ginseng, Chinese black mushrooms, shark fin, abalone, scallions, scallops, chicken, duck and bamboo shoots.  Although the stock is mostly chicken stock the combination of these ingredients into this one soup makes this one of the most extraordinary soups ever.  This soup takes 2 days to make so it is best to call in before you go into the restaurant just in case. 

Lobster Fried Rice

Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Balls

Mango in Coconut Paste

Lotus Paste Pastries

There was still the desert.  We were so stuffed by this stage we didn’t think we could stuff anymore food but we had to.  We just had to.  They brought us mango sweets covered in coconut, black sesame glutinous rice balls, and lotus paste pastries. They also gave us not red bean soup but red bean mixed with chee mi low (sorry if someone can give me the English for this that would be great.  The mango inside the coconut was cold but very sweet and fresh.  Overall, the dessert was phenomenon. 

It was an absolutely wonderful experience tonight.  The staff was extra nice and we were given first class treatment.  If you do any research, some of their lesser expensive dishes are not as good but their more expensive dishes are out of this world especially their seafood dishes.  I agree and for a restaurant lie this, what you pay is what you get.  Yes the bill was high but it was worth every penny.  Everyone had a great time. Thanks to Leo Wan for the reference!!!  I can’t give this place a less than perfect mark.  It was just that good.  This restaurant definitely deserves a perfect 5 out of 5 for their service and food for the night. 

O Mei Restaurant

420 Highway 7 East

Richmond Hill, Ontario

905 881 8188