Best Chinese in Vancouver?

[ianrjohnson]

Hi. I dearly hope this is not a duplicate thread but can you please let me know what is the BEST Chinese food in Vancouver BC? We are only there for one night.

Many thanks for your patient and thoughtful replies.
Ian

[fmed]

I should probably mention Bao Bei...as it placed second in En Route magazine's best restaurant listings this year. It is a modern Chinese restaurant with Western-style service and drinks/wine list. If you are looking for a more "hip" place, then consider it. I know a lot of people who like it....but it isn't my personal cuppa tea.

[ianrjohnson]

Thanks for the excellent responses everyone!

[YVRChow]

We look forward to reading your trip report!

[fmed]

That question is a minefield! ;-)

Here are my personal favourites:

Cantonese: Good Choice (Fraser St)
Shanghainese: Long's Noodle House (Main St)
Hunan: Alvin Garden (Burnaby)
Sichuan: Chuan Xiang Ge (Richmond) and S&W Pepperhouse (Burnaby location)
Dim Sum: really tough one to answer...I would say Jade Seafood, Fisherman's Terrace or Sea Harbour (Richmond)
Pan-"Mandarin" with Xian and XinJiang thrown in: Peaceful Restaurant (Broadway/Cambie)

But if there is one place that I think truly excels at being true to form - it is Alvin Garden. Authentic, unpretentious, robust Hunan food. You have to like really spicy food, however. Hunan isn't for everyone.

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Long's Noodle House
4853 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5V3R9, CA

Alvin Garden
4850 Imperial St, Burnaby, BC V5J, CA

The Jade Seafood Restaurant
8511 Alexandra Rd, Richmond, BC V6X1C3, CA

Chuan Xiang Ge
8211 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC V6X 1A7, CA

[grayelf]

fmed is giving you the straight goods. I'll only add that I have been enjoying Ningtu for Shanghainese, in case you want somewhere that is a bit less cramped and rushed than Long's but a similar vibe and as good quality IMHO.

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Ningtu Restaurant
2130 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5N2T5, CA

[fmed]

Ningtu is another fave for me too! The food is more rustic than Long's (which is pretty rustic already). It has the best of a couple of Shanghainese classics eg the seaweed fried croaker, smoked duck, crab with rice cakes, and their Shanghai breakfasts (shaobing, sticky rice rolls, etc.)

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Ningtu Restaurant
2130 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5N2T5, CA

[YVRChow]

An excellent list! Just to add a bit of confusion to the matter, I would also recommend an alternative possibility (perhaps for lunch) is the various Chinese regional cuisines available in the Asian Food Courts around town too such as:

Crystal Mall (Wang's for XLB, Want Want for lamb rou jiamo, Huaxi Noodle Specialist, etc.)

Richmond Public Market (Xi'an Cuisine for knife cut noodles, and XinJiang Delicious food for lamb nang)

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Crystal Mall
4500 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H2A9, CA

[fmed]

Great additions YVRCHow...these stalls serve certain dishes better than most restaurants. They all have a specialty - "that one dish" that they do very well (which you have listed above). Let me add: Huaxi for the Guizhou Beef Nooldes, Xian for the Fenzheng Rou, Otray (at President's Plaza) for the Jianbing and the Soft Tofu (Doufunoar).

[grayelf]

I didn't mention the food courts because the OP said one NIGHT only and they seem to all shut down by about 7 pm...

[fmed]

Right!

[YVRChow]

Excellent detailed additions!

[Toenail]

Many thanks for indicating Alvin Garden, we had a really great lunch there today and will definitely go back for tasting more dishes even though we are only here for a one-week visit. The beef tripe salad was quite something, I had never had one like this, wow! The five dishes we ordered were all good and tasted even better as we got along and they started getting cold, a sure sign of good quality ingredients and moderate use of fat.

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Alvin Garden
4850 Imperial St, Burnaby, BC V5J, CA

[billjac]

I'm going to hijack this thread for a related question if you guys don't mind. I'm going to be in Vancouver for a couple days up from Miami where good Chinese is hard to come by. I know a lot of the best places serve family-style; Which Chinese restaurant would you recommend for someone on his own? Not a long walk from a SkyTrain stop would be a plus too as I expect a little difficulty adjusting to the climate.

[LotusRapper]

What part of town are you planning to be in ?

Yup, the weather sucks at the moment, we don't like it neither.

[billjac]

I'll be up by UBC but I've got time to kill and a city to explore so I don't mind a bit of travel.

[fmed]

Peaceful Restaurant on Broadway near Cambie (only one bus from UBC) has a nice list of smaller dishes. They specialize in food from the western and northern parts of China.Their friendly staff will help you navigate through their fairly large menu. Definitely try one of their hand-pulled noodle dishes.

Lin's on Broadway and Granville is also a good bet. They serve a survey of Shanghainese and Sichuan dishes. Service can be spotty and disorganized. They serve my favourite XLB in town.

Another great option are the Asian foodcourts in the suburbs (eg Crystal Mall in Burnaby, Richmond Public Market - both readily accessible by transit). Not your usual foodcourt fare. A number of stalls serve some of the most authentic regional specialties around....and as a matter of fact a couple Chinese regional cuisines eg Xi'an, Xinjiang are only available from these stalls. I can expand on it if you are interested in this option.

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Crystal Mall
4500 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H2A9, CA

[billjac]

Peaceful is convenient and their menu looks great, just the sort of thing I've been missing since I moved to Miami from NYC. Thanks a lot for your help.