Chinese Sauerkraut Fish

Reviews

• Elaina L.

  star star star star star_border 2 June 2026

  Still stand by the food at this spot! Check out my original review for my thoughts on the food. Just wanted to give an update on some changes to how they run the show now. They have an extremely organized walk-in system now. It's all self-served through using your phone to scan a QR code at the door. Efficient and fair. There is also a water dispenser for when you get thirsty during the wait. The menu is also accessible through scanning a QR code. They seem to have gotten rid of their physical menus.
  
  Also, can vouch that they make their sauerkraut in house. I went in pretty late on my most recent visit and I saw them preparing fresh cabbage for fermentation.

• Jonny M.

  star star star star star_border 25 May 2026

  I've never heard of Chinese Sauerkraut Fish before until I stumbled upon it's existence. I'm always game for Szechuan so we decided to give them a try when we were in Richmond. They specialize in one dish; you guessed it, fish sauerkraut.
  
  We dropped in on a Sunday evening (around 6:30pm) and were shocked to find it completely packed. We put our names down and waited for about 45 minutes for a table to open up. The inside is spacious and is split into two seating areas. The table booths that they have are comfortable and luxurious. Service is typical but lacking; they forgot to bring out one of our sides and didn't refill our tea cups.
  
  The menu is small; literally, the only thing you're ordering here is their speciality (small, large and the feaster option) but there's also starters, sides, vegetables, rice & noodles and drinks.
  
  - Fish belly ($7.99) - it's smoked fish jerky. We'd actually ate something similar the weekend before at a Shanghainese spot. This one was bonier so it wasn't as enjoyable to eat. Skip it.
  - Chinese sauerkraut fish ($39.99 small) - this easily fed the three of us. We also added wide starch noodles ($3.99) which were flat glassy noodles. Good bite but you don't get much. Broth was tantalizing as you get sour and spicy with a touch of numbness. The heat comes from the Sichuan green peppercorns and dried red chili peppers while sour tones are from the pickled mustard greens. Fish was flaky, soft and tender.
  - Rice ($2.25) - the rice goes well with the soup but it's the dinkiest portion I've seen for the price.
  - Plain noodle ($1.99) - if we were to come back, we'd stick with adding 2-3 bowls of noodles. Does the trick.
  - Chinese donuts ($4.99) - these are a must! I normally don't love the donuts but it went perfectly with the soup. They soak up the flavour brilliantly but still retain their crunchy bite.
  
  CSF is worth a try if you want try something completely different. 3.5 stars.

• Daniel N.

  star star star star star_border 22 May 2026

  Sooo expensive, but worth the bucks if you decide to splurge.
  
  This restaurant specializes in one thing and it does it very well: Sauerkraut Fish. While I wish they'd give more pieces of fish in the bowl, the flavors are top notch. I think there were a few tiny pieces of scales (or bones I'm not sure) in the fish? It kinda dampened the whole experience. They should do something about that.
  
  The fern root noodles and crispy bread are out of this world. The bread is always piping fresh.
  
  Weird parking lot. They're all marked for other businesses but i don't think anyone actually cares to check.

• Charlie T.

  star star star star star_border 22 May 2026

  Not only was this an interesting place to eat, it was also interesting on how you order food.  It was cool to see how they ferment the Chinese pickled veggies (not sure of the proper name). You need to have WeChat app in order to be able to order your food. The menu will come up on your phone and you can pick what you like.  I just had the cold chicken with some plain noodles, while the others had the fish dish. They thought the fish dish was decent and glad that they ordered a small vs a large dish. The chicken was tasty and had the numbing peppers flavor to it. I also ordered a mango pomelo sago drink, which was very refreshing.

• Amber T.

  star star star star star_border 17 May 2026

  I've been here a couple of times and I must say the taste is quite strong and spicy but authentic. The pricing is also on a higher end compared to other similar restaurants considering the portions of fish they serve, must be because they make their own Chinese Sauerkraut and feels that warrants a premium. I do wish they could customise their spice levels as not everyone can handle the strong taste. There aren't a huge selection of dishes to choose from so if you come here it'll be because of their main house special. I really like their creative menu and decor, if you understand Chinese and Sichuan culture you'd find it quite amusing.