Yao Sun Loong Kong Chicken

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-​asian customer in here. The exterior and interior design are definitely not particularly welcoming to newbies. But if you like chicken, then you’re missing out. In the chinese community, this is a popular source for fresh chicken and roasted or steamed chicken. There is also some roast pork available. The availability changes daily and hourly so you sometimes have to ask if you want something in particular and they can reserve it for you or go in the back to check when it’s available.
Why come here? Well, the farm-​raised breed of chickens that they sell here are much better in quality of flavor and texture than the typical battery-​raised chicken you get in supermarkets. The meat is gamier and more muscular with less fat. The skin is taut, not loose. Battery-​raised chicken don’t move around much, and spend most of their life sitting because their breasts are too big, weighing them down. These chickens are more normal. The breasts are much smaller but longer and stringier because they’re actually used to flap wings and not just raised for excess quantity of meat. The chicken legs are also much longer and actually used by the chicken to walk around. You might not believe what I’m talking about, but just try it. it definitely tastes better. You can get a whole chicken for about $ 18, which is a steal imho. The overly fat, flavorless chickens at the market can cost about the same sometimes.
Pro tip: Although the standard practice is for them to chop the chicken for you, I prefer to bring the chicken home whole and carve it right before I eat it. This way, the juices don’t get lost on the chopping board at the deli, and the meat stays more tender and doesn’t dry it on the way home.
They also have a similar location in Chinatown.

This is one of your standard butcher shops from Hong Kong or Singapore — with the fresh meats in the display case for cutting (roast pork, char siew and squabs among the items) as well as chilled salt chicken which they also offer. Various parts of cooking chickens (including organ meats) are all available as well as copious amounts of eggs. Nothing is really in English, but it’s pretty easy to point at things and ask for how much they are — though I’m willing to bet this isn’t the place for crazy organic fans to go around asking whether or not this fits in their 100 mile diet.
One whole cold salted chicken comes to $ 18 and a squab comes to $ 11. Not being sure of what to eat for dinner I bought the chicken and two squabs, knowing that whatever I chose to eat tonight, I’d also have leftovers for the next few (just steam some vegetables and have some rice on the side). The service was very eager to help me even though I can barely speak Chinese and I got well-​butchered items to go.
I had a squab and a quarter for dinner as well as a piece of chicken. The squab was done in a braised fashion which I actually liked very much! A bit sweet with the salt (much like char siew), the squab had a juiciness that I thought was very tasty with the steamed baby bok choy I had. They even included the head and there was a great taste to the neck meat and other parts. All in all, I was very happy with the squab — it had a lovely lean meat flavor though as it was braised it understandably lacked some of the nice gaminess that you can get with a deep fried bird instead.
The chicken was also pretty good — firm, juicy and the sauce that came with it (the standard ginger and garlic in oil mix with salt) were all nice and fresh. Overall, $ 40 does seem a bit much but I do suspect that these birds will form part of my meals for the next few days so it probably will work out to 5 meals in total. Not bad a deal!
It’s cute, the staff is nice, and it’s kind of a hole in the wall, but it and the BBQ king (the store that used to occupy the place) are some of my favorite places for take-​out Chinese cold chicken in the Lower Mainland.