Hello: I crave Chinese food a lot. I visited Hong Kong a few times and the food was amazing. Where I live, there is nothing like it. I will visit Vancouver in August and I look forward to devouring the best of what the cuisine offers. Specifically, I am looking for:
Dim sum: even better if there are early bird discounts
Seafood: lobsters, crabs, shellfish…Chinese style
Spot prawns: will go to the docks to the south of Richmond (does not have to be Chinese)
Geoduck: I tried it once at a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco and was immediately impressed. See it offered by a local Japanese market, but it’s super expensive
Fried milk: I had it twice in Hong Kong, but have not seen it in the US
Noodle dishes: I prefer noodles to rice
Any other Chinese food specialty dishes, such as BBQ
I will travel with one companion and we plan to eat dim sum on multiple days for breakfast. We will check out the city and its vicinity during the day and return to Richmond for dinner. My companion also likes Chinese food a lot and he has not had any for over one year.
I did read Charles’ recent travelogue in this forum, but it seems that most places he patronized are on the higher end. I am looking for middle of the road options.
All suggestions welcome!!! Thank you very much in advance. Have a great day!
I have not been in the area in many many years (2016-2018), but I can highly recommend the various “Peaceful Restaurant” or “Peaceful Noodle”. There are several locations. VERY good dan-dan noodles. XLB, and beef rolls.
The absolute best dumplings (IMHO) are the sheng jian bao (pan-fried soup dumplings) at Shanghai Dimsum House, a stall at the top (and very back) of the Crystal Mall in Burnaby.
for seafood chinese style, I seem to remember that the Granville Island Public Market had a big ol’ case of fresh sea critters, which you could select and have prepped for you a number of different ways. “Stir fried with XO sauce” was one of them. I had crabs and they were delicious.
Mid range prices and delicious noodles and dumplings at Dynasty noodle. Chain. Careful a couple locations are frozen take home dumplings not sit down. Agree with Crystal mall food court and peaceful noodle.
Re: dim sum - I went to a few places for dim sum on a trip last August, in Vancouver proper - Dynasty and Chef’s Choice. In Richmond, I went to Empire for dim sum and enjoyed it. I wish that I had time to try some more, maybe next time.
If you are staying in Richmond I would think there are a lot of options near you worth exploring for dim sum for breakfast. E.g. another Richmond dim sum place on my list was Golden Paramount, but I didn’t get around to trying it.
Also on my list that I didn’t get to try - HK BBQ Master in Richmond for Cantonese roasted meats.
I had a couple of delicious experiences in Richmond Food Courts. Notably:
Soup Dumplings R & H Chinese Food in Landsdowne Centre
Classic Rice Roll at Best Rice Roll in Parker Place
And one downtown Vancouver:
Dumplings in Nine Dumplings Nine Dishes in a (surely soon to be torn down) public market on Robson St.
Vast majority of Chinese restaurants are in Richmond and no longer in Chinatown.
For seafood at an affordable price I can recommend western lake on Victoria. It’s a Vancouver Chinese family favorite for banquet style dining. I hosted my family there for dinner last year reservations are a must. Call prior to inquire about seafood prices. Their typhoon shelter crab was very good.
Western lake is also known for relatively affordable dim sum. Large portions but I wouldn’t say it super good. Just big and reasonably priced.
Prince dim sum is a family favorite that is mid tier. I think you’re gonna have to pay if you want quality dim sum, dim sum is pretty pricey in bc these days
Richmond for Chinese bbq hk bbq master or Parker place
Congee noodle king is good for congee and hk style noodles. Max noodle house too.
Somewhat out of date rec, but we had a great meal (highlighted by amazing Dan Dan noodles) at Happy Noodle House a couple of years ago. Hole in the wall so light on atmosphere, but the food was excellent.
Recently visited Vancouver, Richmond. Beautiful weather in August. Great time to be outside and get some hiking and bike riding done in between meals.
Coming from the San Francisco area and having visited Hong Kong, we were interested in seeing how Dim Sum compares.
Picked 3 Dim Sum spots: Dynasty, Mott 32, and Chef’s Choice. Service at all 3 are better than we see in SF Area. Prices are not cheap. US$10 hargow… Very precise dim sum construction at Dynasty and Mott 32.
We like Chef’s Choice the best in terms of quality.
Have to rank Dim Sum at HL Peninsula and Grand Harbor above what we had in Vancouver. Not fair comparing Vancouver to Hong Kong.
Richmond’s Aberdeen Mall and Parker Place mall were fun places to visit for low cost Asian food. Very easy skytrain ride from downtown Vancouver. Make sure you bring cash along and a hungry belly. They gladly took our US dollars, don’t ask what the exchange rate was!
