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 Find great Chinese food in B.C. (Clipart.com) |
The trouble with eating Chinese food is that you're hungry again half an hour later. Or so we've been led to believe.
I revised that notion after three hours of sampling and savouring more than a dozen dishes at four restaurants in Richmond, B.C.
Richmond is near Vancouver Airport, so there are plenty of overnight travellers. (I recommend the Hampton Inn Vancouver Airport Hotel; visit www.hamptoninnvancouver.com)
Visitors should eat there, too. The number of Asian restaurants is estimated at more than 400, an astonishing number given that Richmond's population is only 188,000.
But 60 per cent of those residents are Asian, mostly Chinese. And Chinese not only like eating out, but they like eating out in big family groups.
Our marathon dine-around focused on the Golden Village, an area packed with Asian malls, cafes, bakeries and restaurants offering Cantonese, Szechwan, Shanghainese, Northern Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisine.
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First stop was Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant (2200-4540 No. 3 Road), a traditional Chinese tea house, for Cantonese-style dim sum.
It was 1 p.m. on a Wednesday in winter, but the place was packed.
The plan was that we'd get to try two or three dishes. The staff wheeled out seven.
By the time we reached Shanghai River (110-7831 Westminster Highway), I was vowing to cut back.
Then someone mentioned that Shanghai River was famous for its hand-pulled noodles. I'm a noodle lover. I could have contented myself with watching the noodle makers at work from the dining room window, but I was too busy scarfing their wares.
POSH (1123-3779 Sexsmith Rd.) claims it was North America's first Japanese Sukiyaki hot pot restaurant. Guests cook vegetables, tofu and thinly sliced meat at their table in a bubbling mixture of vegetable broth and soya sauces.
Eight trays of meat were brought to the four of us; we promptly sent half of them back. The pork and beef were to be dipped in a beaten egg after cooking. My colleagues declined. I tried it once. The all-you-can-eat menu -- $11.88 for lunch, $15.88 for dinner -- has proved so popular, it has two other locations.
Batting cleanup was Vogue Chinese Restaurant, next door, a modern bistro-style place serving Taiwanese-style food.
We were beyond stuffed. Whatever arrived at the table was ignored or stared at. I don't think the sight of a whole deep-fried fish, fins and tail intact, gaping mouth stuffed with cilantro, helped. But I took a smidgen, to be polite.
The signature dish, Mongolian beef, proved to be my favourite. It's extra crisp because it's deep-fried, then stir-fried with ketchup and spicy oils. I had four pieces.
Leave time between restaurants for some of Richmond's other attractions.
Here are two I enjoyed:
- The Olympic Oval, where speed skating events will be held during the 2010 Games. Free, hour-long public tours are available Tuesdays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. Shorter tours begin daily every half hour.
- Ling Yen Mountain Temple, a Buddhist place of worship where resident masters are women. This was the first built outside Taiwan, where the "mother'' temple is located. The Buddha Hall is open to the public.