Chow town: Richmond, British Columbia, has the best Chinese food this side of Shanghai

Sunset, Feb, 2005 by Linda Lau Anusasananan

At our table at Kirin Restaurant in Richmond, British Columbia, the conversation focuses on food, a recurring theme any time Chinese people dine together. "Honestly, Chinese food is better here," says Daisy Wong. "More flavor and freshness."

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As we dip thin slices of raw geoduck into seasoned soy, the clean, fresh sweetness of the clam seems to affirm these thoughts. From our table, we can look across the street to see another new restaurant about to open. Miranda Ng says, "My friend is going there tonight." Writer and food consultant Stephen Wong--no relation to Daisy--responds, "And by this weekend, the underground pipeline will let everybody know how it is."

"I'm a food spy," says Clara Lau, who makes the 20-minute drive from Vancouver three or four times a week to eat in Richmond. "All Chinese are," says Stephen. Daisy agrees: "It's a Chinese thing."

When it comes to superb food, there's a lot to spy on in Richmond, a Vancouver suburb of 176,000 residents. Located on a series of islands that stretch between two arms of the Fraser River, Richmond has, by general consensus, some of the best Chinese food in North America. And its reputation is growing beyond our continent. "Hong Kong is still the best place for Cantonese food," says Ng, a frequent traveler to Asia. "But we're catching up."

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When you first see Richmond, you may think that it is the most visually uninspiring gourmet center imaginable. Drive down one of its main streets, and you see a gray landscape of shopping centers, blocky apartment houses, and hulking megamalls. You don't feel you're embarking on a food lover's adventure. You feel like you're shopping for tires.

Richmond was for decades a farm town, home to dairy cows and blueberries. It then grew into a standard-issue Canadian suburb, probably best known for its proximity to Vancouver's airport. When local businessman and community leader Bennie Yung arrived in 1975, he remembers, Richmond didn't possess any authentic Chinese restaurants. But, Yung recalls, in the mid- to late '80s, many Chinese emigrated from Hong Kong and Taiwan to British Columbia. And they discovered Richmond. The city's name, Yung explains, sounded like "rich land"--which signaled prosperity. Richmond's location, on the jutting lower jaw of the mouth that is greater Vancouver, was said to possess good feng shui. The city continued to grow in the 1990s, with the impending handoff of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. The joke became, "What's the quickest way from Vancouver to Hong Kong? Take the Arthur Laing Bridge" (which connects Vancouver with Richmond). Today about 40 percent of Richmond's residents are Chinese; another 20 percent are from elsewhere in Asia. And there are an estimated 400 Chinese restaurants in town.

These restaurants are concentrated in the Asian retail area, dubbed Asia West or Golden Village. Others spill over into the downtown area near Westminster Highway and No. 3 Road, the main north-south artery. Oriental Delight, Garden City Hot Pot--the names of the restaurants are displayed in both English and Chinese. Every once in a while, you get a glimpse of the Vancouver skyline and the mountains behind it. It's then that you remember Richmond is an island city, and you feel it being set loose from North America to float west to Asia. Richmond is being transformed into something partly Canadian, partly Chinese--a new world all its own.

At 8:15 a.m. in Lansdowne Park Shopping Centre, a group of early-rising exercisers are doing tai chi.

It's fitting that these Richmond residents are exercising at a mall, because in many ways the mall is the center of Richmond life. There are other attractions: the historic port of Steveston, where fresh fish is still sold off boats; two imposing Buddhist temples; a pleasant network of trails along the Fraser River. But the malls--Lansdowne, Richmond Centre, new and glitzy Aberdeen Centre, and many more--are king.

If you're used to finding great food in settings that are either elegantly urbane or gritty and down-home, arriving for dinner at a Richmond mall is a little unsettling. Yet the food can be phenomenal. At Aberdeen Centre's chic Fisherman's Terrace Seafood Restaurant, you can choose from more than 60 dim sum items. On a cold winter night, get in line at Garden City Hot Pot for a Chinese fondue-style meal--cooking your dinner in steaming hot broth. At Sun Sui Wah, you can splurge on a 10-pound steamed Alaskan king crab with garlic. And at the handsome new Shanghai River Restaurant (which is not in a mall but on the ground floor of an apartment building across from Richmond Centre), you can try Shanghai steamed buns, hand-pulled noodles, and tea-smoked duck.

Despite the setting, Richmond's restaurants have grown increasingly sophisticated. While David Jue--owner of Bamboo Grove, the city's oldest existing Chinese restaurant--says that traditionally here "food comes first, then service, then atmosphere," newer Richmond restaurants wow with ambience. Shanghai River, for example, bridges the gap between dining and entertainment with its subtle contemporary decor and its open kitchen, where you can watch noodles being stretched to incredible lengths. "Chinese people love a new attraction," says chef-owner Bill Cheung.