Richmond Night Market Bows Out after 26 Years

Richmond Night Market is closing this September

The Richmond Night Market is ending its 26-year run in September.

Every summer people of all ages come here to sample snacks from dumplings to sushi tacos, fried rice and bubble tea, purchase T-shirts, phone accessories and toys, and play some carnival games in the hopes of winning prizes.

There are some 250 vendors and attracts one million visitors annually, according to the City of Richmond.

Many people come to sample the food 

But the 20-acre site was a temporary space, and was recently listed for sale under a court order. The lease was up, and there is no word yet if the night market will move to another location.

Raymond Cheung, organiser of the Richmond Night Market, made the announcement this afternoon in a press release, describing the experience of running the events for over two decades as one of the "most rewarding and enjoyable" journeys in his life.

"Watching a single local event grow into one of Canada's best-known summer attractions has been an incredible honour," he said.

"Although it is heartbreaking to say goodbye, I am filled with gratitude rather than regret. The memories we have created together over the past 26 years will continue to live on in the hearts of our visitors, vendors, performers and everyone who has been part of this amazing journey."

In 2000, the night market was first held at Continental Centre on Cambie Road, and grew every year, moving to the current property next to River Rock Casino Resort and Bridgeport Canada Line Station in 2012.

Lots of snacks like shaved ice with fruit

Richmond Tourism CEO Nancy Small was not surprised by the news of the night market's impending closure.

"I know how challenging it is for entrepreneurs right now to actually make a go of it," she said.

Small said the closure will impact the local economy.

"Previous vendors have gone on to open restaurants in Richmond," she said.

"Hundreds of thousands of people will not be coming to our destination starting next year. It will be a hit for sure."

Meanwhile Cheung said in his announcement there are six more weeks the Richmond Night Market is open and encouraged people to come one last time before it ends September 20. 

Chinese Restaurants Riffing Off Each Other

Lobster meat stir-fried with egg white at Lanxuan Restaurant

You know the saying, one is random, two is a coincidence, and three is a trend?

Within five days I have tried two similar dishes in two different Chinese restaurants that may result in the latest trend to eat in Vancouver.

On Friday evening we went to Lanxuan Restaurant in Richmond, where we had some fantastic dishes, such as butterfly deep-fried chicken with glutinous rice underneath, a giant pot of a fish with pumpkin, and a flavourful soup with ingredients such as dates, longan and pork.

The highlight was lobster meat extracted from the shell and stir-fried with egg white. The presentation was even more bougie with tiny bits of gold leaf and shrimp roe on top.

Crab meat stir-fried with egg white at Dynasty

It was fantastic with a splash of Chinese vinegar to enhance the flavour.

Then last night we went to the always high quality Dynasty Seafood Restaurant, where our host managed to get some special dishes like a whole roast duck with tea-smoked quail eggs, deep-fried white bait typhoon shelter style, and freshly made sesame balls with black sesame filling for dessert.

The standout by far was crab meat stir-fried with egg white. It was presented on a massive platter that we couldn't finish. The crab meat was so dense, one can only wonder how many crabs were used in the dish. This was also served with dark vinegar seasoned with ginger.

I can surmise that Lanxuan has had this lobster dish before as it was recommended to us by a regular patron, while Dynasty staff told us the crab dish was new; they probably thought of riffing off of what the former restaurant had done.

A large fish in a hot pot with braised pumpkin

What's next? A combination of crab and lobster? Or with scallops? Geoduck?

Sex in the City Resonates with Gen Z

Samantha, Miranda, Carrie and Charlotte for the Gen Z crowd

This morning we had dim sum early with some family friends and their adult kids who are in their 20s and living in New York and Boston.

Funnily enough they told me they were watching episodes from Sex in the City, a show I watched in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

The cable show created by Darren Star, was based on the newspaper column and book of the same name written by Candace Bushnell, a columnist for the New York Observer.

The show focuses around Carrie Bradshaw, based on Bushnell, a writer who has an addiction for shopping, especially for Manolo Blahniks, flirty publicist Samantha Jones, prim and proper Charlotte York, and feminist lawyer Miranda Hobbes.

So I was surprised to hear they were watching the show, bringing me back to when I watched it weekly on Saturday nights in my 20s. We discussed the characters, and they felt Miranda resonated with them the most, and I agreed, adding I liked how Samantha is so liberated.

They said the storylines are still relevant today, particularly about men! 

One thing we definitely concurred on was that Carrie was so hard to relate to, being so flighty and having such a bizarre wardrobe. But more importantly that it was frustrating to see her keep going back to Mr Big! haha.

Then I asked the two sisters what they were doing after dim sum and they said they were going to Aberdeen Centre in Richmond with their parents. 

They looked up that the Chinese shopping mall was renovated in 2003 -- the same year the younger sister was born. 

I couldn't help but remark that was the year I helped produce a radio broadcast for Chinese New Year in the mall!

Now I feel really old! 

Sweet Sips at Sweet 7

The signature mango pomelo sago drink

There's many bubble tea shops in Metro Vancouver, and we've taken a liking to Sweet 7, which is originally from Shanghai.

Started in 2006 as a dessert shop, there are now over 1,500 Sweet 7 shops around the world, with two here, one in downtown Vancouver, the other in Richmond.

The menu is mostly drinks made in large cups. Back in the summer I ordered the signature mango pomelo sago and the portion was so large, I mixed it and poured it into bowls to share with my parents! We quite enjoyed it as a dessert.

Mango and passionfruit slush

This afternoon I took a friend visiting from Toronto to Sweet 7 downtown and she ordered that signature drink, while I tried the mango passionfruit slush.  It's fruity sweet, it's got passionfruit seeds and slushy ice, making it easy to drink and get a brain freeze.

While the menu features so many different kinds of drinks divided into various sections, to help you make up your mind faster, there are suggestions of which are the most popular drinks: other than the signature mango pomelo sago, there's Oreo cheesecake milk tea, passionfruit green tea, and matcha cheesy smoothie.

Guess that means I need to go back again!

Learning from Last Year's Fire

Fire at West 41st and Collingwood

Last August my parents and I were sitting at home about to eat dinner when we heard three big booms south of us.

I went outside to take a look and didn't see anything.

But then there were more explosion sounds and I walked down to the end of the block. From this vantage point looking south down the hill I could see a big black plume of smoke south east of us. As I walked down two blocks closer to the fire I saw giant flames beyond the tall trees. It was a frightening sight.

Saw giant black plume of smoke, fire

Later on social media there were videos of the six-storey building that was under construction was completely on fire. Another clip showed the building crane "melt" and fall away from the site, crashing onto the road. Luckily no one was there, and the fire truck had just moved away from that spot!

Then there was a commotion across the street from us -- our neighbour's roof was smouldering thanks to flying embers. The fire fighters told us to survey our roofs to see if there was any smoke. Luckily we were OK, but it was a scary lesson in how fires can easily start.

This evening three fire servicemen from the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services came to our neighbourhood meeting to talk about that fire, and two of them were on the ground fighting it.

They explained that since 2009 the City of Vancouver has allowed wood construction for six-storey buildings which was adopted in the building code. According to these fire service men, these buildings are faster to build, use sustainable material, and in this case, the rules around construction and safety were all followed before the fire. 

Unfortunately they still don't know the cause of the fire; a private investigator is working on the case for insurance purposes, but will not share their findings with the fire service...

The building was near completion, with insulation, a very light material stored on the roof -- these were the embers that flew several blocks away onto our porches and roofs causing a few fires here and there.

So when the firemen arrived, the fire was so hot, they had to wear their fire gloves right away. Luckily fire prevention materials were installed in the house next to the construction site which saved the other houses further along from bursting into flames from the sheer heat.

Embers landed at our home

Nevertheless, when they tried to fight the fire on the construction site, the water completely dissipated because the fire was so hot. They could only make sure the other houses did not catch fire and that the occupants were evacuated. No one was killed, but the crane fell onto a house, and the person happened to be in the washroom, and the crane missed him! The firefighters had to extract him from the window.

There are 21 fire stations in the city, but they were also pre-occupied with a big fire that engulfed an abandoned apartment building on East 10th. Hours later the fire near us erupted.

The VFRS called on Richmond and Burnaby to help out -- Richmond came because they are on the same radio frequency, Burnaby is on a different one. Richmond was helpful in putting out smaller fires in the area, but it showed the VFRS need to know how to deploy people when there's more than one major fire. The fire captain also admitted he had no idea how thirsty his firefighters were until they said they needed water.

VFRS learned a lot from the fire, such as the need to communicate with the public, staffing issues, and that cranes can collapse in fires, and calling for help from other jurisdictions. Early next year people with smartphones will receive messages in case you live in a certain area where there is a fire and give instructions on what to do.

As for homeowners, it's best to change from cedar shingle roofs to asphalt ones, which we just did this summer. They suggested ensuring gutters are clean, and try to keep trees a maximum height of three metres tall, or at least prune as much as possible and keep yards tidy. Firewood should not be stacked up by the house, and if there is a fire nearby, close the windows and turn on the garden hose and keep the house as wet as possible.

It was a stimulating discussion and we all learned a lot! Needless to say we thanked the three fire services men for their work in putting out the fire eventually and keeping the rest of us safe!

The Delicious Taste of Shunde Cuisine

Braised winter melon with crab roe and conpoy sauce

Shunde is a city of 3.2 million people located in between Hong Kong in the south, and Guangzhou in the north. Established during the Ming dynasty in 1452, Shunde is the birthplace of Cantonese opera, and Cantonese cuisine, making it a Unesco designated City of Gastronomy.

In general, Shunde cuisine is focused on fresh ingredients, such as fresh water fish like carp, rice, milk, such as buffalo milk, poultry like chicken and pigeon, and flowers. 

Flavourful Shunde soy sauce chicken

A restaurant in Richmond called A Bite of Shunde transports diners to the southern Chinese city with some delicious dishes that are different from Hong Kong-style Cantonese ones.

One is a soup called hand pulled fish soup, where the fresh water fish is pan-fried first. Once it's cooked, the fish meat is extracted from the bones and placed in a thick soup that includes ribbons of bean curd skin, wood ear fungus, and thinly sliced carrots.

Another soupy item is Chencun rice noodles in a deluxe chicken broth. The broth has a strong chicken taste, ensuring it hasn't been diluted much, and rice noodles soak up the flavour. It was total comfort food.

Impressive shrimp balls on silver bean sprouts

Speaking of chicken, the soy sauce chicken was also outstanding, better than the crispy chicken that is presented to the table standing upright with a pole through it. Then the staff proceeds to break the bird apart by hand which is quite unnecessary.

An interesting dish to watch cooked in front of us was steamed fresh Lingcod. It is deboned and thinly sliced and placed in a steamer and cooked in about two minutes and then dipped in soy sauce with chillis. The fish tasted sweet.

We were impressed by the flying fish caviar shrimp balls on a bed of "silver" bean sprout, where the head and tail of the bean sprouts were meticulously removed. The texture of the shrimp balls revealed the paste was made by hand chopping the shrimp, a laborious task, but the end result is a bouncy texture.

For vegetables, winter melon made an appearance in a poetically described "celebration of gold and emerald", when it is braised winter melon squares topped with a sauce of crab roe and conpoy. The presentation of the nine squares is artistic and not easy to present.

A Shunde specialty -- pan-fried milk with prawns

The test of a Shunde chef is seeing if they can make pan-fried milk. In Shunde buffalo milk is used, which is creamier, but here it's cow's milk that is mixed with egg white and it's not about stirring the mixture, but watching the heat and keeping it consistent. The end result is a fluffy milk finished with prawns. 

And Shunde cuisine isn't complete without claypot rice. Ours had various kinds of lap cheong of Chinese sausage steamed with the rice and some vegetable, and a dark soy sauce was poured into the claypot and mixed in thoroughly before being portioned out into bowls. The best part was the fan jiu, or the crispy edge of the rice.

Double-steamed milk custard

For dessert we had the well-known double steamed milk custard. Apparently in Shunde, a good one has the spoon laying on the surface of the custard, not sinking into it, which shows how thick it is. We all just lapped it up, it was so good, not too sweet.

A Bite of Shunde

4653 Garden City Road, #2215

Richmond, BC

+1 604 284 0119

https://www.instagram.com/abiteofshunde/ 

Asian Food Court Eats

Beef rendang and flaky roti at the Aberdeen Centre food court

A friend arrived from Toronto and I picked her up at Vancouver International Airport around 11am and she wanted to eat something Asian.

So we headed to the food court at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond.

On the weekdays this place is quiet, but this being a Sunday, it was busy! It wasn't too hard to find a table, but the vast majority of them were occupied.

We wandered around a bit to check out what was available and settled on sharing a northern Chinese set meal that included spring onion cake, some chive and pork dumplings, stir-fried thin slices of lamb in a slightly sweet soy sauce, and a small bowl of fake shark's fin soup (very thin vermicelli), with ribbons of bean curd skin, and wood ear mushroom.

For drinks we headed to a juice bar, where she had the drink equivalent of mango pomelo sago, while I had a combination of mango and papaya slush that was quite sweet.

Our set meal wasn't quite enough so I headed to a Malaysian stall and ordered the beef rendang. The server asked if I wanted rice or roti and chose the latter. We were not disappointed! The chunks of beef were so tender in the thick curry sauce that wasn't spicy at all. We dipped the flaky roti in there and it was delicious.

That was so filling we didn't need dessert!

Meanwhile there were more people queuing up for food and I was impressed to see practically all the stands doing decent business, with people of all ages dining here.

Showcasing Local Cuisine in Canada

The screening was held at Silver City Riverport in Steveston

Went to another screening this evening -- this time for a TV series on CBC called Locals Welcome. There are 10 episodes in this inaugural season featuring host Suresh Doss. He's a food writer in Toronto who has a regular column on CBC Radio Toronto's Metro Morning.

Doss, originally from Sri Lanka and moved to Toronto when he was 12 years old, could probably be best described as the South Asian version of the late Jonathan Gold, who championed the mom-and-pop shops serving ethnic foods.

Chef May Chau at Golden Paramount

While there is a big mix of ethnicities in Toronto, the show also wanted to spread out across to Vancouver, and Richmond was chosen as a place to showcase the best in Chinese cuisine.

In the episode entitled Seafood and Tradition, Doss meets up with Lee Man, a congenial foodie, a judge for the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards, and founding judge of the Chinese Restaurant Awards. 

Lee takes his foodie buddy to Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant to have dim sum that included dumplings with large morel mushrooms on top, and the signature fun guo, or Chiu Chow steamed dumplings stuffed with pork, chives, peanuts, preserved radish. 

Chef May Chau Siu-may explains on screen that her family was in the restaurant business and she learned at a very young age how to make dumplings thanks to her dextrous fingers. She is now in her early 60s. 

Man, Doss and host Lien Yeung

Golden Paramount is our go-to for dinner, but haven't eaten here for dim sum...

Doss and Lee also visit "Eat Street" on Alexandra Road, where there are restaurants representing an array of regional Chinese cuisines. They also check out a Taiwanese place serving tomato beef noodles, and Yuan's Garden that doesn't only have Shanghainese dishes, but also Nanjing ones too.

Apparently Nanjing cuisine has more of a sour and sweet combination of flavours, and soupy dishes with noodles. I ate here over the summer, but was not aware of the Nanjing specialties!

The episode ends with Doss eating at Fish Man restaurant with fishmonger Jenice Yu and an influencer. Chef Li Bo presents enticing dishes like geoduck two ways -- sashimi slices and wok-fried typhoon shelter style with chillis and chilli flakes.

He also used fresh ling cod, de-boned it, sliced it up and then put them in a sour and spicy broth with pickled vegetables (or Chinese sauerkraut) and topped with a lot of red chillis. I have had this dish here and chef Bo is very talented. When I ate here over two years ago, he presented almost 20 different ways of eating sablefish!

Chef Bo is originally from northern China, came to Vancouver via Winnipeg and not only is adept in Chinese cooking techniques, but also has learned Japanese knife skills to cut sashimi, and make Cantonese seafood dishes too.

A panel discussion with Doss, Man and Yu

The episode left viewers salivating over the food. After the screening, an audience member asked Doss if they finish all the food during filming. He explained while he had a fast metabolism, he had a rabid film crew who helped eat everything as soon as shooting wrapped.

Doss said he hopes to do an expanded series on food courts, as well as Chinese diners across the country, some of which are closing as the next generation are not taking over. There was also the suggestion that he check out Surrey for the South Asian dishes there.

So many possibilities! More importantly, there are so many food stories in Metro Vancouver that need to be covered!

Picture of the Day: Steamed Crab and Pork Patty

Steamed pork patty surrounded by crab legs

Tonight we went out for dinner at Golden Paramount Seafood Restaurant in Richmond and had some staple dishes, like winter melon soup, crispy chicken, sweet and sour pork, and steamed fish. They were all very good, perfectly cooked. 

The winter melon soup was perfect for today, which reached a high of 27 degrees.

We also ordered steamed crab -- with pork patty cooked together with the chopped up crab.

One of our friends at the table had seen this combination on a TV cooking show in Hong Kong where a top chef made it, and it looked so delicious that they asked the Golden Paramount manager if this could be done for us.

My picture is of the dish half eaten, but you can see the pork patty has soaked up the sweet juices of the fresh crab meat. 

Will we see this variation in other Chinese restaurants around town? Very high chance. 

Shanghainese Restaurant Salty Disappointment

Eight treasure duck too salty for our tastes

Earlier this week we went to a Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond that we'd never been to before, and won't be going back to anytime soon.

It's called Yuan's Garden Restaurant, and when we arrived we hoped it would be a suitable substitute to Suhang, a very good Shanghainese restaurant that closed recently.

Inside, the decor of Yuan's Garden is clean, tidy and contemporary; we were surprised when the waitress told me the restaurant has been around for about 10 years.

Looks good, but tough meaty texture

As we waited for our fellow diners to arrive, we perused the menu and the prices, particularly for the set menus looked very reasonable, featuring ingredients like lobster and steamed fish. Peking duck two ways is $86.98, while eight treasure duck (they call it "duck stuffed with eight delicacies") is $84.98. We had preordered the latter dish.

We ordered the rest of our dishes, many standard Shanghainese ones and then waited for them to arrive, while the restaurant quickly filled up.

One of the first dishes to arrive was the appetiser of ma lan tou with minced tofu. It was OK, but the vegetable was not very fresh, more on the older side so it was tougher. 

Xiaolongbao is usually a good test. With eight of us we ordered two servings and they came freshly steamed. Picking it up, the dumpling looked good, the skin practically see-through as you can easily see a lot of soup inside.

The skin was thin at the bottom, thicker at the top, but the pork filling was more on the leaner side, with not enough fat to make the texture smoother. This was surprising for a Shanghainese restaurant that should know better what the ratio of meat to fat.

Stir-fried egg white and broccoli

Next came the shrimp stir-fried with green tea leaves, and honestly the shrimp did not have much of a tea flavour and this dish was left mostly untouched throughout the dinner!

Next came our pre-ordered eight treasure duck and it arrived with quite the procedure. The waitress used a knife to slice it down the middle and then along the sides to make about 10 pieces. 

It looked very promising, with a moist, tender appearance, but the initial taste was salt. It was much too salty and the filling inside was not very discernible except for baby shrimps, a few lotus seeds and mushroom with the salty duck meat. Disappointing.

However, we had a bit of a reprieve from the saltiness with a hot pot filled with napa cabbage, tofu, mung bean noodles, fish balls, ham, and pig skin in a soup. We also ordered broccoli stir-fried with egg white and a raw yolk in the middle. None of us wanted to try the yolk and ate around it.

For dessert, something a bit unusual -- black sesame glutinous rice balls that were studded with crushed peanuts. 

In the end the dinner was $37 per person including tip which made it great value, but quality-wise we weren't persuaded to come back again.

A hot pot filled with ingredients

Yuan's Garden Restaurant

101 - 8077 Alexandra Road

Richmond, BC

778 297 6098

 

Steveston Treats

Fish and chips served in a cone at Pajo's 

Yesterday I was in Steveston, the southernmost tip of Richmond, and decided to check out Pajo's Fish & Chips, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary. It was started by two women, Patricia Branch and Joan Wettlaufer in 1985, making battered fried fish from the catches made by Branch's husband Larry, who was a fisherman.

Since it was overcast and a weekday, I figured I should take the opportunity to check out Pajo's, as it's quite popular and there was no lineup.

Picnic tables have holes to place your cone

Located down on the waterfront, customers need to walk down the gangplank to the shop on the water. The menu is extensive, with fish and chips made from wild rock snapper, cod, sockeye salmon, and halibut, and burgers, tacos and hotdogs.

I got one piece of the cod and it was presented in a cone with fries at the bottom. At first I wondered how I was going to eat it when I quickly realised there were holes in the picnic tables for people to place their food! How ingenious.

However, when you're eating outside, you need to beware of others keen on having some of your food. I had two crows eyeing my fish and chips. They paced along the railing and at times came closer. I looked them in the eye and put an arm around my cone to show I wasn't sharing.

The fish was a thin fillet that was bland and under seasoned, though the batter created a thin casing around the cod. The fries underneath were a bit on the soggy side, but again appreciated they weren't too salty.

Another cone... of ice cream!

For dessert I headed to Sally's Homemade Ice Cream and had a scoop of the passionfruit sorbet, a deep golden colour and tasted slightly tart and not sweet. As I was eating my ice cream cone, one local came for ice cream and admitted he was swinging by there twice a day!

Din Tai Fung is Finally Open in Vancouver

The signature xiaolongbao at Din Tai Fung didn't disappoint

Din Tai Fung Vancouver just opened up over a week ago and it's generated a lot of buzz to say the least. We have been anticipating its opening for at least a year and it has finally opened its doors on Alberni Street. Despite a few kinks to iron out, the Taiwanese restaurant chain has lived up to the hype.

I managed to snag a reservation during the soft opening phase by entering my email in the newsletter and we arrived this evening to try dinner here.

Sweet and sour baby back ribs were superb

For years Din Tai Fung has resisted opening in Vancouver, with supposed claims there was too much competition here (Chinese food is already excellent), they typically open in a shopping mall, or it just didn't make sense financially to set up shop here.

But perhaps they did finally find the right place -- a massive space on the second floor of a hotel/serviced apartment in downtown Vancouver. Perhaps if Din Tai Fung opened in Richmond it would be too much competition. There aren't many Chinese restaurants downtown, though Din Tai Fung happens to be a few stores down from Kirin!

We arrived a few minutes early and the reception area was absolutely chaotic with lots of people waiting around. I checked in with one of the three staff there who said it would take 20 minutes to be seated. Excuse me? That wasn't the answer I was expecting...

Sweet and crunchy Taiwanese cabbage

When tables were ready, staff would wander around to the different groups standing around, asking if they were so-and-so to take them to the dining room. It seemed inefficient and tedious, but perhaps they didn't want to go through the number-calling or name-calling route.

In the end we waited less than 10 minutes and were seated in the main hall where down at the end was a giant pane of glass where cooks in white uniforms and caps rolled out dough or wrapped dumplings. Later did I find out the restaurant was massive because down another hall there was yet another large dining space and a smaller "patio" one that was sort of enclosed.

Staff were friendly and asked if we needed instructions on how to order, but since we had eaten at other Din Tai Fung locations, we knew the drill. Was surprised to find there was no picture menu; diners had to scan a QR code to see pictures of the dishes.

Vegan dumplings choc full of vegetables

Disappointed to see no hong shao kaofu on the menu, though every other table had spicy cucumbers, as influencers had pronounced it an "iconic dish"... if that was the case, what would the xiaolongbao be described as?

We made our order on a slip of paper, and then waited. And waited. And waited... almost half an hour before our sweet and sour baby back ribs arrived. But boy were they delicious. The meat was so tender and the thick sauce whetted our appetites.

Next came the chicken xiaolongbao, as indicated by a small chicken carved out of a carrot. Both this and the kurobuta pork xiaolongbao have a mouthfeel to them; the pork in the xiaolongbaos in the Din Tai Fung in San Diego was so finely ground they were too smooth.

The vegan dumplings wrapped in green wrappers were very good, light with various mushrooms, tofu, jicama, wood ear fungus and vermicelli. We also liked the wontons in soup, a small whole shrimp wrapped with kurobuta pork in a savoury clear broth with lots of chopped green onions in it.

Braised beef shank with egg noodles in soup

For vegetables we had the string beans with minced garlic were crunchy, and the Taiwanese cabbage that had a sweetness to it, also with fried garlic slices. 

We couldn't not order the braised beef noodle soup, with a tinge of spice. The chunks of tender beef were of the shin shank, with bits of tendon in it, together with house made egg noodles and bok choy. We were pretty much full by this point, but had to try dessert...

The red bean and mochi xiaolongbao were much smaller than the savoury ones, and filled with red bean and had a slightly chewy texture from the mochi. We had 10 pieces and wished we could have split half the order with another flavour, like taro. I already gave this suggestion in the feedback survey. It's quite boring to have to eat three red bean and mochi dumplings.

The bill came to C$172.21 with tax, and including tip just under C$200 for three.

Red bean and mochi xiaolongbao for dessert

Nevertheless, despite the soft opening glitches, the food was already at a high standard and service was friendly. Hopefully the logistical issues will be sorted soon and Din Tai Fung will be the hot spot in Vancouver for a while yet.

Din Tai Fung Vancouver

1132 Alberni Street

Vancouver

 

Picture of the Day: Lion Dancing is Alive and Well

A trio of lions performed this evening for a fundraising dinner

This evening we attended the Alzheimer Society charity dinner held at Continental Seafood Restaurant in Richmond.

Even though Chinese New Year festivities are over, the fundraiser had a celebratory atmosphere that started with traditional lion dancing.

Turns out the pink lion had two girl performers

There was one large red lion, flanked by two smaller ones, one pink, the other yellow. They went table by table greeting guests who were eager to stroke their faces for good luck. One was like a dog and constantly wagged its tail...

After touring the entire dining room, the trio of lions returned to the stage and the performers revealed themselves -- While the head of the red lion was held up by a woman, the pink lion was done by two girls, the yellow one two boys! Very impressed.

Equally worthy of praise was the drummer, another boy who kept the beat very well.

Marvellous Mochis

Chestnut (top) and purple yam mochis

Today I finally checked out a dessert shop in Richmond called Car's Dessert. It's named after the chef-owner's wife and while it doesn't sell cakes and cookies, there's mango pudding, pomelo with sago and mango pudding, ground walnut soup, and black sesame soup.

But one of the signature desserts is mochi and I came to buy some to try.

Although Chinese New Year is over, the shop has some holiday specials. I got box with two mango mochis and two durian, and another box of mochis filled with purple yam, and another with chestnut.

Mango and durian (with gold stripe)

I was asked to wait a few minutes as the staff packaged them fresh. When I picked them up, they told me the yam and chestnut mochis didn't need to be refrigerated, whereas the mango and durian ones had to, and all these mochis should be consumed today!

When I got home, I tried the yam and chestnut mochis. The skin made of glutinous rice flour is thin and envelops a generous portion of filling. The purple colour of the yam is pretty and the taste is not too sweet, though a bit on the bland side. 

However, the chestnut one is filled with both puree and tiny chopped bits of the nut, making the texture more than just smooth.

After dinner I tried the other two flavours. The mango one is quite popular, and it features the fruit diced and mixed with fresh cream, but for durian lovers, the durian flavour is the best! The texture of the durian one is combined with a bit of cream, making it soft and the unique smell pungent. It was hard not to eat it so quickly.

No wonder those who love durian enjoy eating these mochis!

Car's Dessert

#110 - 4140 No. 3 Road

Richmond, BC

(236) 999 9218

Happy New Year of the Snake

Lion's head meatballs for Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's officially the Year of the Snake.

Last night we had a family dinner for New Year Eve and heard it was quite the ordeal to even secure all the ingredients for our dishes!

At T&T Supermarket in Chinatown, there was a long queue to buy a live fish -- an essential food to eat to ensure a good start and finish to the new year. Anyone who wanted fish, but did not want to wait could go into the line for fish that was previously frozen or already killed and on ice.

We also had a whole fish and roast meats

We also heard there was a two-hour lineup for roast meats in Richmond, probably the stall in Parker Place where there is always a queue regardless what day it is.

I made a contribution to the dinner with Shanghainese lion head meatballs (shizi tou), my second time making it. I basically used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and it's kind of funny seeing non-Chinese people research this dish and come up with a pretty much fool-proof way of making it.

The ingredients are: ground pork, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, salt, sugar, chopped scallions, white pepper (black pepper will do), grated ginger, baking soda, water, and a beaten egg.

This time I added finely chopped water chestnuts to give the meatballs a slightly crunchy texture.

To make the meatballs soft in texture, put the mixture in a standup mixer with the paddle attachment and have it mix for a few minutes until you notice the meat is thoroughly mixed.

Next wet your hands before making the meatballs, about as big as the palm of your hand. They won't be perfect round balls, but it doesn't matter.

Then heat up a large pot with four cups of chicken stock, and when it boils, carefully add in the meatballs one by one. When it boils again, adjust the heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour.

In the meantime wash and chop up a whole napa cabbage into quarters and then chop the cabbage into two-inch pieces. After about an hour, scoop up the meatballs onto a plate and then place the cabbage into the pot and then place the meatballs on top of the cabbage and let it all cook down in another half hour.

It's basically done by then, or if there is a lot of liquid, add mung bean vermicelli or rice vermicelli to soak up the sauce.

This dish is a great one-pot meal and even the kids like to eat it! 

Canada Line Adds a New Station in Richmond

Capstan Station is now open to transit riders in Richmond

Richmond has a new SkyTrain station that opened today that will hopefully be able to reduce overcrowding during peak hours.

Located between Bridgeport and Aberdeen stations, Capstan Station is operating two years behind schedule, but will now service many residents who live in the area.

A tiled mural by Howie Tsui

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said when the Canada Line was being built, population density in the Capstan neighbourhood and development area was low, but a plan to eventually build the stop was part of the original Canada Line plan.

"We knew that the time would come. However, with development, we very much do need it [now]." he said.

The station was supposed to open in 2023, but there were delays due to the pandemic and it was assessed the soil was unstable, which meant performing structural upgrades to the station.

The total cost of Capstan Station is C$62 million, with Translink covering $30 million, and the rest by the City of Richmond, with thanks from developers like Concord Pacific, Polygon, and Yuanheng with buildings in the Capstan area helping to kick in some of the $32 million.

There are both up and down escalators at Capstan

Interesting to note the station is one of the first to have both up and down escalators, and it has a tile mural designed by Hong Kong-Canadian artist Howie Tsui. Entitled "The Breath Below", it depicts aquatic life in the Fraser River estuary, in the style inspired by traditional Chinese landscape paintings. 

Last Richmond Night Market of the Year

Not too crowded but a bit chilly at the Richmond Night Market

A friend asked me to go check out the Richmond Night Market, and I can barely remember if I had gone before so a good a reason as any to check it out this evening.

It turns out she had admission tickets and the market ends this weekend so we were able to skip the very long lineup to get in at 7pm when it started. There are a few dragon decorations from the Mid-Autumn Festival, though there are a few dinosaur sculptures standing around which is a bit incongruous, but no one seemed to notice. 

California Roll in seaweed taco

Once we got in we made a beeline for the stalls serving food. It felt like the Canadian version of Ladies' Market in Hong Kong, or maybe what the Lunar New Year festival in Victoria Park used to be like, with the various stalls selling items for impulse buys and mostly deep-fried food to entice your hunger pangs.

We had some Japanese takoyaki topped with large bonito flakes that were not bad, and had some deep-fried popcorn chicken and mushrooms, both were quite good. 

At a dim sum stand I got some pan-fried pork buns and Hong Kong-style curry fish balls that were not bad. By this point we were getting thirsty and had a lemonade drink for C$7, though one could get a giant bucket of a drink to carry around too.

My friend got a California roll taco, basically rice topped with fake crab meat, a bit of mentaiko, sprinkles of sesame seeds, mayonnaise and spring onions in a deep-fried seaweed taco shell; after eating that she was full. I got a giant scoop of pistachio gelato that only had a hint of the nut flavour, but the ice cream hit the spot despite it being around 8 degrees Celsius.

The non-food items ranged from earrings and fake nails to socks, smartphone accessories and even camping gear. As it is the last weekend, some stalls discounted prices to get rid of stock, only with limited success.

A man and his dog hanging out

I was surprised to discover Richmond Night Market has been around since 2000 when entrepreneur Raymond Cheung started it at Continental Centre on Cambie Street. It's now on an empty piece of land that has a lot of electricity to power all the stalls as well as live entertainment.

As we were leaving we discovered the games section of the fair, where people had to throw rings around the necks of bottles or pick up a bottle using a ring attached to a stick. One guy with his dog strapped to his chest hung on a bar; he had to stay there for two minutes, but gave up at the 1.47 mark! 

Would I go again to the night market? Probably not, though I didn't mind spending C$45 for food and drinks to share on a chilly Friday night.

Review: Lanxuan Restaurant

The shrimp toast is impressive at the new Lanxuan Restaurant

When Chinese people get together, they invariably talk about which restaurants are good these days. This one's not as good now, we went there recently, or we heard the chef has left this other place, and so on. You have to keep track of when you heard the news as things may have changed since then.

The latest is that Chef's Choice, a restaurant on Broadway and Ash used to be pretty good, but the chef left. Where did he go? South to Richmond to a recently opened restaurant with a Mandarin name.

Bizarre beach scene lights up the restaurant

Called Lanxuan Restaurant, it replaces Marina One Richmond Seafood Restaurant next to Tom Lee Music on No. 3 Road and Capstan. Before that it used to be a Knight and Day.

The head dim sum chef who used to be at Chef's Choice is Wei Lai, who has over 30 years' experience in the kitchen, and in May won gold in the team and individual categories of the ninth World Championship of Chinese Cuisine.

Lanxuan's interior is very mainland Chinese in style, with a massive digital screen at the back of the restaurant showing a beach resort scene, with palm trees, blue skies, sandy beach and low couches that look inviting...

This "picture" is so incongruous with the rest of the restaurant which serves a combination of Cantonese and northern Chinese dishes... in a way a strange combination as well.

On the dim sum menu, diners can also order boiled water fish or 水煮鱼... most of the staff speak Cantonese, but some customers are mainlanders. 

Pan-fried vermicelli with beef was a highlight

Nevertheless, overall the dim sum was pretty good, made fresh and interesting fillings. We also ordered rice roll filled with beef paste and had chilli sauce drizzled on top which was different, and shrimp toast was actually pretty good. Shrimp mousse was placed on top of a slice of white bread, deep fried and covered in sesame seeds. There's a decent ratio of shrimp mousse to toast, and hardly oily too which is impressive.

We also had some steamed cake which looked dense, but was actually fluffy and not too sweet. 

We may have found our new dim sum spot, but that digital beach scene has got to go... 

Lanxuan Restaurant

3631 No. 3 Road #170

Richmond, BC

604 285 8989