One Day in Vancouver

[ankimo]

I would like to try Vancouver's top Asian eats. What's better in Vancouver than SF Bay Area?
What do you think of this itinerary?

Sat lunch Sun Sui Wah (or Kirin?)

afternoon exploration
Richmond Public Market Xin Jiang and Tsim Chai Noodle
snack at Japadog or Wang's XLB at Crystal Mall

Sat dinner Shanghai River (what to order besides XLB)

Sat late night at Guu (original) or are the other Guu better (how about vs. Hapa or Kingyo)

Sun AM early grab and go from New Town Bakery?

any less expensive version of Tojo's?

thank you for your recs.

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Crystal Mall
4500 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H2A9, CA

Guu
838 Thurlow St, Vancouver, BC V6E1W2, CA

Kingyo
871 Denman St, Vancouver, BC V6G2L9, CA

Shanghai River Restaurant
7831 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC V6X1A4, CA

Tsim Chai Noodle Restaurant
8251 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC V6X, CA

[fmed]

Hey ankimo...

Glad to see another SF hound up here.

Good itinerary. Crystal Mall has a larger variety of regional Chinese stalls than at Richmond Public Market, but both foodcourts have great food at select stalls. At Richmond Public Market, I actually prefer the food at the Xi'an stall. Specially their fenzhengrou (#6 steamed meat with rice).

Both malls are accesible by rapid transit...but they are quite a distance from each other (30 mins each way from downtown with no direct connection in between) . It's a real tossup if you have to choose between the two malls - but overall, I would say Richmond has the edge as you can check out the other Asian malls there (Aberdeen, Parker Place, President Plaza, etc.)

Shanghai River isn't as great as it used to be, but they do still deliver the goods overall. The Shanghainese classics are safe bets there. (I like the smaller Shanghai places that dot Richmond - eg Suhang which is a splinter group of ex-Shanghai River staff).

Have a look at fellow SF hound's recent thread on izakaya crawl where we hit three Guus in the span of a couple of hours. My favourite location is the Original Guu (where they serve my favourite pork kakuni). I also like Guu w Garlic a lot. Hapa has good food, but it's pretty scene-y. Kingyo has the most refined of the izakaya in that area - but some folks find it fusion-y.

New Town is good. (and you can check out Chinatown...not that it will impress a San Franciscan). Where are you staying? There may be a more convenient option.

[grayelf]

Yeah, nice to see your handle on our 'umble board, ankimo!

re XLB there's a fair bit of discussion about who has the best of these around here. I (sadly) haven't tried 'em all but of the half dozen or so places I frequent, I have to give my vote to Lin's. The XLB at Wang's have a thicker skin and we had epic fail structural breaches at our tasting last week on four of the six in the basket.

For overall Shanghainese fave, I'd say Ningtu based on two recent visits, who seem to do both lunch (damn fine shaobing) and dinner (seaweed fish, yowza) very well but I can't comment on their XLB as I haven't tried them yet -- I don't think they get a lot of love though. For lunch, my fave so far is Shanghai Village. You will note that these are all in town, for your dining convenience :-). Not to say you shouldn't hit up some Richmond options of course, just to let you know there are some great ones closer in.

+1 for fmed's recco of dish #6 at Xi'an. It is pretty awesome and I think quite unusual. Also great resteamed the next day :-). And don't forget to hit President's Plaza for some tofu brains and a "crepe" from O'Tray.

I am a fan of Japadog, especially since they opened their bricks and mortar place on Robson (weirdly addicting butter fries) but at the end of the day, they are just gussied up hot dogs so be sure to manage your expectations :-). I do love the kurobota with okonomiyaki topping...

I like Dan too (though I haven't tried their omakase, I'm too picky!) but I daresay it will be quite a different experience than going to Tojo. Also you may end up smelling like a grill (their HVAC system is a little wonky). But deffo worth considering if the cash outlay is making you hesitate for Tojo's. Also maybe Octopus' Garden??

Do let us know where your hotel is going to be (and when you are coming) so we can help you tweak your itinerary!

[ankimo]

thanks for your excellent advice. you make the decisions so much harder given my limited time hehe.
btw your izakaya crawl looked like some good chowing.

I'm coming up from seattle this weekend; will be staying in downtown. Plan to head to Richmond too.
I'm mostly wanting to eat good XLB and sheng jian bao, and to try the regional food stalls at the Richmond Public Market and Crystal Mall. probably too ambitious for one trip
xi'an rou jia mo and o'tray jian bing look perfect
will the stalls take American Dollars?
wish I had time for the aquarium.

btw, do you recommend Vij Rangoli takeout?

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Vij's Restaurant
1480 11th Ave W, Vancouver, BC V6H1L1, CA

[grayelf]

Well at least you can knock Ningtu out of the running -- they're on holidays till next Thursday :-).

I think everyone here takes US dollars.

If you have a car and determination, you could do Crystal Mall and a couple of Rmd food courts in one day, but do bear in mind they can be a zoo on Saturdays, and driving/parking in Rmd can be challenging even for the locals.

Rangoli is not bad but it is not the same as Vij's food or experience-wise.

[ankimo]

thank you for your recommendations!
I was very impressed with the food scene (Richmond, Burnaby) and will have to make a trip back
I ended up going to Richmond Public Market first and heading straight for the Xian stall--got hand pulled, knife cut noodle (pork) soup and the rou jia mo
soup was excellent with great flavor, perfect noodles
meat in the sandwich was super tasty, but the bread was a little too thick and dry (reheated)
the Xin Jiang stall was closed unfortunately.
next, went to O'Tray noodle for the savory soft tofu and the tian jin wrap -- never had this before and was interesting and tasty (the thin crispy doughnut inside made for a great texture contrast)
the tofu soup with wood's ear and added chili spice tasted distinctly Chinese. the two went together well.
had dinner at Shanghai River and the XLB were solid with a lot of juice. had to ask for extra fresh ginger slices. they also did a great job with the crab, very fresh
had one more opportunity to try Huaxi noodle and Wang's at Crystal Mall
the XLB there held together for me, but the flavor was a little muted
the spicy chicken noodle soup was great, really had a kick at medium level
(Japadog was in line with what I expected)

[fmed]

Thanks for the great report ankimo. So you ate all that in one day?

[ankimo]

Richmond food stalls was lunch when I arrived, Shanghai River dinner, Japadog and then Burnaby food stalls next morning breakfast/lunch. also went to Stanley Park, the aquarium, Capilano Bridge (at night to see the lights).

[fmed]

Impressive! (You managed to sneak in some sight seeing between meals). Hope to see you up hear again soon...don't hesitate to join us in a chowdown or two.

[jerkstore]

I would recommend the omakase at Dan for a cheaper (and IMO frequently better) version of Tojo's.

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Dan Japanese Restaurant
2511 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K, CA