Dim Sum research is something I can get behind!!
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Yes, same! And some sampling of Dungeness crab wouldnāt hurt either! (Saw it on the specials menu).
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Iām dying for some Dim Sum right now 
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Always! 
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I am drooling on my keyboard as I look at your pics. WOW!
And Iām a sucker for good har gow and cheung fun
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I would agree with you on quality and par.
In my own experience, I find the Van DS places Iāve tried somewhat off-putting. This includes the decor, the buildout, the ordering and the service. Even the dishes. The gestalt of the places Iāve been to is just off.
If I had to pick one word to describe it, the word might be āsterileā.
I like DS served from carts, and I love to make choices from what I see on them. While I sometimes ask for particular dishes, I look forward to seeing and smelling all the other choices when that cart rolls up/by. And I very much enjoy the interactions with the servers before and after the reveal of whatās under the hotel cover or in the steamer. Add in some bustle, and Iām a happy camper.
While the DS Iāve had in Van has been good, itās been a lesser experience for me.
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First let me add some commas to this just to clear up the above broad generalization since Iām outside the edit window 
IMHO from this limited sampling, the dim sum in Vancouver/Richmond is, at the least, on the level of some of the best places we have in the Bay Area.
It was all good to very good and as good or better than the places Iāve been to recently in the SFBA. Probably not as good as what I remember from my limited experience in Hong Kong, where even a middling rated place at the HKG airport was excellent to my taste, but thatās probably as expected.
I see where youāre coming from but I thought the decor and service of the places I visited matched the white tablecloth, waiters in suits kind of atmosphere Iām used to in more of the higher end dim sum places Iāve been to. Most of these places serve Cantonese banquet style dishes and seafood etc. at night (with live seafood tanks) and dim sum only for brunch, and the decor matches that kind of experience.
Also re: carts, it is fun to see the dishes going by and picking out what looks good and piques your interest. However I donāt really mind the checkbox ordering style. In theory, it also means the dishes are cooked to order and havenāt been sitting around for awhile. I found a fairly recent Reddit thread with some places with carts in the area https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/15v3y51/dim_sum_carts_still_a_thing_in_vancouver/
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Iām with you on this one, I donāt want to have to jostle the other hangry customers to vie for my favorite dishes. Some of them are real pros. 
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As a child going to dim sum with my family I remember this rush to the carts happened a lot when the cheung fun cart came out. Some of those aunties have some sharp elbows 
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That atmosphere holds no cachet for me. IME, the food isnāt any better. And the trappings of haute can get kind of absurd.
One of several problems with the order sheet method is that you really need to know in advance what youāre ordering. The English translations donāt help a lot, and Iāve yet to have a server guide selections. Another problem, IME, that order process is just impersonal.
Grannys throwing elbows would be a positive for me. I rather like the avalanche of food that storms out of the cart-based kitchens. Yet to have any food that wasnāt fresh when served.
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Quite a few places have photos of the entire menu nowadays
I love the cart atmosphere but the food quality is much better at the order on menu dim sum places
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You say that as if thatās a good thingā¦ Nothing kills my appetite like photo menus. Give me Doritos in the car.
I guess that means you donāt look at photos online prior to going to a restauant or maybe you go blind folded lol 
Sylvia Hotel Bar
After lunch at Empire I took the SkyTrain back to Vancouver and did some more walking around the city. I walked around Coal Harbour and along the Vancouver Seawall, and also walked around Stanley Park for a bit. Vancouver is a beautiful city and the weather was nice.
In the early evening I had a drink at the bar at the Sylvia Hotel near Stanley Park. I wanted to try their Vancouver Cocktail, which apparently was a favorite of Hollywood legend Errol Flynn, who went to Vancouver to lease his yacht, and stayed at the Sylvia. He passed away at the Sylvia Hotel during his visit.
A Vancouver cocktail has gin, sweet vermouth, BƩnƩdictine, and bitters, garnished with a lemon twist. The one at the Sylvia Hotel was quite nice. It was strong and stirred, with a little sweetness from the vermouth and some herbal notes from the BƩnƩdictine.
Not food - English Bay Beach outside the hotel.
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Man, I really need to renew my passport.
Thanks for sharing!
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I would LURV to visit Vancouver some day. Donāt you just need a driverās license to visit CA as a US citizen?
That used to be the case but I thought it changed?
Well Iām set either way. The only thing missing is $$$
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Thatās right. While I agree āWe eat with our eyesā, for me it has to be real and in person. I will look at photos to observe things like plating, but itās never to plan what to order.
There ARE worse things than menu photos, though. Exhibit A: those macabre plasticized food models. IMO, theyāre the culinary equivalent of Madame Tussaudās Wax Museum.
Yep, a passport has been required for both Canadians to enter the USA, and for Americans to enter Canada, for at least 10 years.
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