Gold: The Fish Man
To find anything fresher than what’s on your plate at The Fish Man (this year’s gold winner in this category) you’d have to head straight into the sea. The boisterous restaurant is filled with families, groups of friends and foodies sharing the numbingly spicy water-boiled fish, grilled snacks on bamboo skewers, prawns tossed in salted duck yolk and clay-pot Alaskan black cod with braised tofu.
1170–8391 Alexandra Rd., Richmond
fishmanrestaurant.com
Silver: Max Noodle House
Our silver winner, meanwhile, specializes in oodles of noodles (our judges dubbed Max Noodle House “the last proper Hong Kong-style wonton noodle house in Metro Vancouver”). Here, the little details are perfect. The alkaline noodles have just the right toothsome bite, the wontons are filled with care and are light on the palate and the broth is deep and resonant. The fried chicken wings are marinated in Chinese rice wine, and the stewed beef brisket hums with dried tangerine peel.
8291 Alexandra Rd., Richmond,
604-231-8141
Bronze: Shanghai Wonderful
For a taste of Shanghai, head to bronze winner Shanghai Wonderful—think radish cakes, Shanghai soup dumplings, spicy chili Sichuan chicken.
9260 Bridgeport Rd., Richmond
604-278-8829
Honourable Mentions: Bao Bei and Yuan’s Garden
Honourable mentions Bao Bei and Yuan’s Garden are wonderful in their own way: the former is a continuously hip modern Chinese brasserie; the latter has families queueing up on weekends.
Bao Bei, 163 Keefer St., bao-bei.ca
Yuan’s Garden, 101–8077 Alexandra Rd., Richmond, yuansgarden.com
