Friend’s Birthday Dinner at Mott 32

My friend hosted a birthday party at Mott 32. It was my second time to the restaurant, and I brought my mom for her birthday few years ago, when they first opened. Last time, I was not entirely satisfied by the experience, as some dim sum weren’t that great as described. This time is for dinner, and my friend pre-ordered the Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck and Barbecue Pluma Iberico Pork to share.

Mott 32 has a modern and elegant interior design. Dimmed lighting and comfortable seating gives guests a relaxing ambiance. However, if you are hoping to take pretty photos for the birthday girl, the lighting there might be too dark.

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Our meal starts with the table-side service, with the “Signature Mott 32 Cut” – Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck. You have to pre-order this dish 1 day in advance, and the chef carves the duck into small slices. The skin is served with cane sugar, and the duck slices are served separately, with special Peking duck sauce and wrappers.

We ordered 3 Peking ducks, but I was disappointed that they are not served simultaneously. The second duck is served, when we almost finished our share. So we were staring at people eating their share most of the time. In terms of taste, it is flavorless and without the smoky aroma from the apple wood. Though the duck is roasted perfectly with tender meat, I have to coat the duck meat into sauce to get a hint of flavor.

Barbecue Pluma Iberico Pork is delicious. It is tender and juicy, with a touch of sweetness from the Yellow Mountain honey. It is on a pricier side for the BBQ pork though, but I highly recommend this dish.

2 of my friends and I also ordered three dishes to share – Signature Smoked Black Cod, Crispy Pacific Ocean Prawn, and one of the spring/summer special, Crispy Chicken.

The Signature Smoked Black Cod is presented with a lid, allowing the smoke to pour out. The black cod is perfectly charred with a great crust outside. However, it is overly smoked, which causes an unpleasant flavor to each bite.

The Crispy Pacific Ocean Prawn comes with 6 tiger-prawn sized deep fried prawns, coated with salted egg yolk and bits of pumpkin. I love the crunchiness of the prawns, but sprinkles of salted egg powder will elevate the overall flavor. The pumpkin bits eases the heaviness of the dish.

Lastly, we tried the Crispy Chicken on the spring/summer menu. It is very similar to the classic sweet & sour pork, except it is chicken. The batter is thick and soggy, though the chicken is tender and juicy. I believe the authentic sweet & sour pork batter will be better. I like the heat from the sweet sour chili sauce, but I ended up peeling off the batter and eating just the chicken.

Overall Impression

Everything is cooked perfectly – “tender and juicy” can describe all the proteins we ate that night. However, it still needs some work on seasoning, especially the Peking duck. The service did not meet the standard and definitely did not worth 21% auto gratuity, as most of the dishes did not come at the same time. So most of the time we were staring at my friends eating. Vancouver has many affordable dim sum or Chinese restaurants, which are better than Mott 32. The dishes here somewhat influence by Western culture, so if you are looking for authentic Chinese dishes, this is not the place to be.

Taste : 3/5 • Service: 3.5/5 • Ambiance: 4/5 • Quality-Price: 3.5/5

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Address: 1161 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6E 0C6

Hours: Sun to Thu: 7 AM – 10 PM Fri to Sat: 7 AM – 10:30 PM