Yoshida sushi - we arrived and decided to stay at home and get some to go food. The sushiya is a beloved local spot where they were packed with people on a Wednesday night heard many ppl speaking Japanese which is always a good thing.
Super reasonable on the nigiri, sashimi and maki. All tasted very good and I love the king salmon available at sushi restaurants in Vancouver. This whole order or stuff cost around 80 bucks cad. Great first meal mixed with Chinese food brought by my aunt.
Yin ji chang fen a guangzhou chain offering a quintessential Cantonese breakfast.
Fish slice congee was piping hot and had a ton of wok hei. I believe they heat their congees in small individual pots along with your topping choices to get it so hot.
Crisp airy youtiao covered in a thin toothsome Cheng fun. Chased with milk tea. Could eat this stuff every morning.
Best Peking duck or jing hua. Reading online it’s supposedly a knockoff of a famous chain in China. Whether it’s a knockoff or not my googling found us a real gem was debating whether to go to Iden but had read very mixed things online and couldn’t stomach 300 bucks for bad duck. I found this place online through looking at Reddit, Facebook, and fantuan. The Peking duck was pretty damn good and better than anything ive had in LA, 62 cad for a duck plus 10 dollars more for soup or salt and pepper duck carcass is a steal, we had both and they were enjoyable in different ways with the soup being very ducky but mild and the salt and pepper carcasses going great with a sip of beer. Carved table side the chef cuts the crispiest pieces to dip with sugar.We ordered two for a table of 9 along with some side dishes. Wok hei was quite good for kung pao chicken, garlic gailan, and sweet sour pork, the pork dumplings I thought might be an afterthought and were ordered for the chow pup but they were fresh with pliable skin and dripping with juice on the inside, a pleasant suprise. Def beats out all the canto duck places in bc. My aunt was giving me a lot of shit when we got there because of how far out of the way and random it was but after the meal she said she it was “gai ho” which roughly translates into pretty good but with which her daughter in law exclaimed that means she loved it lol. Couldn’t take more photos cause I was hanging with the fam. Also if you want the duck be sure to call ahead a couple of hours otherwise you’ll probably have to wait slightly longer since it takes time to prepare.
Headed to Vancouver for a week with the family on Monday. What is the name of the duck spot if you don’t mind sharing?
that’s the name, Google Search , the link to the google listing for you to bookmark.
Let me know if you need other recs! I love vancouver and try to visit almost annually.
Lanxuan dim sum- richmond , no photos because the chow pup stole my phone to watch d+. Excellent dim sum in both quality and innovation and quite reasonable in pricing dim sum is definitely over 10dollars cad per order these days but hurts a little less thanks to the conversion. Highlights for me were the daikon radish pastry, egg white tarts, sesame black sesame jian dui, egg rolls, green cheung fun with shrimp youtiao, shrimp toast. However everything was well prepared. Service was lacking but that’s always a thing at a lot of Chinese restaurants. They take reservations for small groups and we were lucky to not have to wait on a Monday with a group of ten we snagged the last large available table, dining room was packed.
I feel like the ftc message board and the internet writ large has only regurgitated dim sum from the early aughts with recommendations being kirin, fisherman’s terrace, golden paramount, dynasty, empire etc. Not sure if posters haven’t journeyed to Vancouver or just stick with the old standbys. I’ve been to all of those places and some the quality remains high (dynasty) while some others are definitely not as good as they once were.
In order to get some more fresh info I messaged Dylan Ho a food photographer and sometime yakitori shokunin who visited vancouver recently and Lee f Man a well known Vancouver based food writer and critic. They both pointed me to this spot giving it high marks.
Additionally, Lee recommended deluxe and sea harbour (I think affiliated with the LA one) and also I know Yue is a good spot if you’re up for trying something new.
Wish I had more time to eat additional dim sum but unfortunately this was my only stop on this visit. This again got my old aunts stamp of approval and she said the dim sum was very well made lol
Thank you! I completely misread your first line initially.
So far I have reservations for us at Salmon & Bannock and Kissa Tanto. Definitely want to try one of your Dim Sum recs! Will be there for a little more than a week with no specific plans so any guidance you would offer is much appreciated 
Dynasty was the best of the dim sum places we went to in 2017.
For non-Chinese cuisine:
St Lawrence would be the number one spot. We went last week and will report back! Been twice both times have been fantastic, one of my favorite restaurants just generally after 2 visits.
We also went to bar bravo which is highly acclaimed and I did not love it will also report on that.
Some other spots to consider that we didn’t get to try
Bar tartare
Is that French
Both wine bars with supposedly very good food.
Chez Celine a casual restaurant opened by the owners of st Lawrence
Mackenzie room
Itosugi kappo cuisine
Sushi bar shu
Sushi bar maumi
the Japanese places have pretty reasonable omakases, shu for lunch.
There’s also some food courts in richmond that would be worth perusing aberdeen, landsdowne, parker place.
Additionally across from best peking duck there is a western chinese lamb specialist that was packed that I had bookmarked but never made it to, might be worthy of a visit Haos Lamb
I forgot Vijs too which is always good we didn’t go this time. For more local chill we enjoy hyderbad biryani house
And always dont forget to get ice cream at Earnest
St Lawrence can’t express how delicious this dinner was one of my favorite meals in the past couple years and confirming my thoughts about the restaurant from when we visited 4 years ago. Service was also spectacular. If you’re a fan of French techniques without the stuff fuss of high star Michelin dining this is the place for you. I read that the chef actually reduced the price of the prix fixe menu after earning the Michelin accolades to make it more accessible which is highly laudable.
Everything was excellent however favorites were the escargot, the king salmon, lamb chops, quail with foie, foie pate, pate en croute, Hiramasa.
If you have a chance in Vancouver please do try to visit
Rodney’s oysters. They source local and sustainable seafood had some oysters from Seattle and bc, they have happy hour before 530 I believe. Was packed midday but they have a great daily selection of items.
Hit the spot after a bike around Stanley park seawall, wish there was a little more lobster in the lobster poutine but otherwise had an enjoyable time and we also got to watch the England Argentina game
Had a family banquet dinner with 4 generations 20 ppl at new mandarin. Usual goto of western lake was too busy and couldn’t accommodate. Large dining room ample space and not nearly as cramped as western lake
Got the steamed rock cod which was 50 dollars lb as the highlight dish. Everything was well cooked, ample wok hei, loads of protein and large portions great for a dinner. Highlights included honey ribs, crispy chicken, pea shoots, steamed fish, walnut shrimp,and suprisingly the water cooked beef which was spicy and numbing . Dining room was packed
1000 bucks all in which breaks down to 50cad pp although pricey as a total still seemed mighty reasonable to feed a family of big eaters and was much more affordable compared to their set menus.
Throughout the week I bought a lot of egg tarts because in South Bay LA we don’t get a lot and due to foodflation sgv egg tarts seem to be over 3 bucks per.
Here are my rankings:
Bar bravo was a disappointing meal. It has gotten accolades both locally and nationally and is also a bib gourmand.
My main quibble is that the flavors are all over the place reminds me of a fusion or global cuisine restaurant from the early aughts tries to meld western and Asian flavors to mixed success. Think majordomo in La without the skill or finesse.
Salmon which they are famous for tasted good but was over powered by the sweet soy glaze. Local rock fish crudo had very strong fishy bites.
Shishitos had a purée that was ultra thick would have been better just presented as shisitos that were grilled. Papperdelle had good flavor but was clumpy.
Best bites were the desserts, eggplant and the kimchi clams. Left a lot to be desired for one of Vancouver’s supposed hottest restaurants.
Earnest ice cream always good. Don’t sleep on their vegan flavors you can barely tell they don’t contain dairy. Had key lime vegan and strawberry. Their line moves fast and you can always order pints in a sepeeate line
