UNITED959

Headed to Vancouver this weekend and am hoping to have dim sum on Sunday.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

FlyinHawaiian

I believe there are existing posts in the archives on this. I enjoy the restautants that are in Richmond, just south of YVR, rather that the places in Chinatown. Floata and Sun Sui Wah are personal favo(u)rites of mine.

Frayed_Yak

Kirin (any one) and King Fortune (downtown) are my favourites.

Personally, I find Sun Sui Wah to be overrated, but it does get a lot of press coverage.

Taiwaned

Pink Pearl is great. Neighbourhood not so good.

http://www.pinkpearl.com/home.htm

Has been consistantly voted in the top 5 for years.

Sun Sui Wah is also up there consistantly as other poster's mentioned.

http://www.sunsuiwah.com/e-about-1.html

aw

The best dim sum restaurants are probably located in Richmond but since we are talking downtown a few places come to mind:

-Floata in Chinatown. Very good and well priced.
-Imperial Seafood. Haven't tried it yet but have read great reviews.
-Sun Sui Wah. Again, never tried it but good reviews.
-Pink Pearl. A bit out of the way of downtown and not overly impressed.
-Kirin. Very good reviews.

You can do a search in the chat forums at www.egullet.org OR www.discovervancouver.com for more information.

Jay71

Depends on what you are looking for. Where are you going to be when in town? Got a car to get around? How much are you looking to spend? Want to eat at a "nicer" place or ok if it's a little run down?

We go to Fortune House Seafood Restaurant in Metrotown a lot. You order off a sheet (versus carts) so the food is usually pretty fresh. Shrimp dumplings are huge. The bill runs us around $13 to $16 per person depending if we over order or not. The lineups are nuts. Unless you make reservations or get there when it opens, you could be waiting for over 30 mins.

We go to Kirin (multiple locations) in Richmond every so often. Very good but a bit pricey at about $20 per person. 15-30 min lineups here. Order off a card. Great service and a nicer atmosphere. We ate at the Richmond location a number of times (dim sum & dinner) to scout them out for a possible wedding reception venue. (Yes, we went with them.)

Pink Pearl is not our favourite but ok and safe. We haven't been there in over a year and a half. They're one of the few places that still uses carts. The food is ok. The bills ran us around $12 to $14 and we'd rather pay a few dollars more to eat at Fortune House.

We find Sun Sui Wah over priced for dim sum for what you get. Used to run us in the high teens per person. Nice but I think they're better for dinner. Order off a card. Haven't been to the Main street one in over a year. Never been to the Richmond one.

Floata (in Richmond and Chinatown) is ok. Nothing special. Runs about low to mid teens per person. Order off a card. (Recently went to the Chinatown one for dinner in December and it didn't impress me at all though.)

The wife has eaten at Imperial Seafood a few times when she worked downtown. Nice harbour views but unsure now because of all the construction. She thought it was really good but a bit pricey (high teens). Order off a card.

A kind of a dark horse favourite is Top Gun in Crystal Mall, located near Metropolis at Metrotown. Haven't eaten there in a few months but they are kind of a trendy Hong Kong style dim sum. You won't find all the standard dim sum menu items you're used to seeing. Funky teas. Costs around high teens per person. Order off a card.

One last place I'd recommend is Fisherman's Terrace Seafood Restaurant in Aberdeen Centre in Richmond. We tried this place in December and really liked it. Very good food but kind of pricey at close to $20 per person. Order off a card.

westcoastman

Check out some of the all-you-can-eat Japanese/Sushi places as well. They are really competitive and much better than any of the a.y.c.e. U.S. chains.
E Bei (Granville & 41st) is highly recommended as all dishes, including all the sushi, is made to order but it is located south of downtown.
I know you asked about Chinese Dim Sum but since we were talking about Vancouver I thought I would bring up a good Japanese alternative.

Braindrain

As someone who consistently goes out for dimsum several times a week in Vancouver, here are my thoughts:

Kirin - downtown Alberni is only decent location (Richmond one has some interesting dim sum though)
Sun Sui Wah - Richmond location only, stay away from Main St
Pink Pearl - just nasty, sorry!
Floata Chinatown/Richmond - very average
Fortune House Burnaby - only good one in that area but average compared to Richmond (Jay71, if you truly are "regulars", get to know the staff. It will do wonders for your waiting time. )

If you are truly "downtown", I would suggest either Kirin or Victoria Seafood Restaurant.

My favourites :
Fisherman's Terrace (Richmond, Aberdeen mall)
Shiang Garden, Richmond

These 2 are not cheap but that wasn't one of the criteria.

UNITED959

Thanks for all the suggestions. We'll have a car, so mobility isn't an issue.

It sounds like making a trip to "Richmond" is worth it rather than eating somewhere downtown, correct?

Jay71

Ah, is that the secret?!?! We go enough for us to recognize their staff and the routines but probably not enough for them to really distinguish us from the masses.


I don't think you'll go terribly wrong by choosing a place downtown or around Metropolis/Metrotown that's been highly recommended a few times in the thread if you're trying to fit good dim sum in with other (downtown or Metrotown) items in your itinerary. But yes, you'll find a larger section of restaurants serving very good dim sum in Richmond than other areas in town. (BTW, also heard some good things about Shiang Garden but haven't eaten there yet.)

gglave

>Pink Pearl is great. Neighbourhood not so good.

In the past year the neighbourhood has gentrified tremendously (Strathcona) so I wouldn't really worry. Pink Pearl's pretty good.

>Sun Sui Wah is also up there consistantly as other poster's mentioned.

Another voite for this place - Also in our neighbourhood, we walk over here frequently for Dim Sum.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

gglave

>It sounds like making a trip to "Richmond"

I think there are locations in Vancouver proper (but outside of downtown) that are quite good without making the trek all the way out to Richmond. In particular, as others have mentioned, Sun Sui Wah and Pink Pearl.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

UNITED959

Richmond is not out of the way as I need to drive through there on the way back to Seattle tomorrow.

Drove past Pink Pearl en route to hotel this evening...from the outside looks, I don't think I'd let my worst enemy eat there.

Braindrain

Give us an update after you've had dim sum. ^

UNITED959

So I wound up going to Kirin in Richmond. The food was excellent as was the ambiance (if dim sum joints can have "ambiance.").

I also found it to be extremely reasonable...CAN $32 for two people with a 20% tip.

Thanks for all the suggestions! ^