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Culinary Master Chef Tony Wu presents us with a 'rose', Tim Pawsey photo
We went to the HSBC Chinese Restaurant Awards this week. It was quite the spiffy affair, held in the main theatre at Richmond’s River Rock Casino. And we loved being able to hop on the Canada Line to be whisked from downtown in under 25 min. Once you’re at Bridgeport Station it’s an easy walk across a skyway to the casino.
Richmond to Vancouver in under 25 mins, Tim Pawsey photo
No surprise that the awards are held in Richmond, widely regarded as the vortex of Chinese dining in Greater Vancouver—if not in North America. In fact, there was no shortage of accolades trotted out from observers at home and abroad praising Richmond’s prowess.
Working through the sheer volume of winners requires some effort. The voting starts with an online survey where consumers nominate their favourite restaurants. That results in the Diners’ Choice Awards, concluded at the end of 2010. And they represent a pretty good nucleus of the better Chinese restaurants in the region.
For the more authoritative Critics’ Awards, a team of journalists, chefs and others well versed in the Lower Mainland’s vibrant Chinese dining scene tasted some 500 entries over five months to specifically identify the best chefs and the dishes they produce.
Landmark Restaurant's Geoduck hotpot, CRA supplied
In the last couple of years, CRA has focused on specific ingredients to determine the categories where merit is due. As awards judging chair Stephen Wong explained to me, when Chinese diners discuss just where to go for a meal the conversation often revolves around who does the best scallop, chicken or geoduck dish—as opposed to the broader appeal of the restaurant itself.
The only real challenge: just like some voluminous restaurant menus, it takes time to determine exactly just who the most worthy winners really are.
Cut to the chase: (from the awards release):
“In addition to the 25 Gold Medals for Critics’ Choice Signature Dishes, the Awards Ceremony also presented the Chinese Restaurant Chef of the Year to Tony Luk (Executive Chef, Jade Seafood Restaurant), the Award for Wine and Spirit Service (Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie), and awards to the restaurants who had, earlier in November 2010, won Diners’ Choice Awards in on-line voting by the public.
“Of the 25 Signature Dish Award winners, six restaurants were honoured with Gold Awards of Distinction for having previously won the Gold Medal in their signature dish category.
“We felt it very important to single out these particular recipients for the consistent excellence of their signature dishes,” said Stephen Wong, Founding Chair of the Judging Panel.
“They set a standard that cannot be matched anywhere else in Metro Vancouver.”
So, where to go for the ‘Best of the Best?’
Alaska King Crab
Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant
Alaska King Crab Three Ways
3888 Main Street, Vancouver 604-872-8822
#102-4940 No. 3 Road, Richmond 604-273-8208
Appetizer
Alvin Garden
Five-Spice Pork Heart
4850 Imperial Street, Burnaby 604-437-0828
Chinese Barbecue
BBQ Master
Barbeque Pork
#145-4651 No. 3 Rd, Richmond 604-272-6568
Prawns
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
Pan-fried Prawns with Soy
3711 No. 3 Road, Richmond 604-232-0816
Soup
Bamboo Grove
Pork Stomach & Gingko Long-boiled Soup
6920 No.3 Road, Richmond 604-278-9585
Squab
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
Fried Squab
3711 No. 3 Road, Richmond 604-232-0816
Contrary to popular belief, this latest winners’ circle actually includes no shortage of good Chinese dining north of the Fraser River—although Richmond still scooped over half of the awards handed out and dominates the Distinction list.
A highlight was the presentation by carver and noodle maker par excellence Culinary Master Chef Tony Wu (right) who, before the event, carved for us an exquisite carrot “flower”, and then went on to present an extraordinary display of noodle-making and vegetable carving while blindfolded—without losing a finger!
Of note also: Cathay Pacific Airways‘ well deserved, special award for the Best Signature Dishes in the Air.
Most of the proceedings were bilingual, although, it was interesting that Mr. Liang Shugen, Consul General for the Peoples’ Republic of China in Vancouver, chose to speak almost entirely in English.
You can find the full list of winners, with the vast array of dishes (complete with sort by city option):
With some 40 plus awards up for grabs, for next year it would be good to see a ‘Sustainable Award’ for responsible sourcing—something timely and definitely missing from this extensive line up.
We’d also like to see more cooperation between between the various communities. While there’s no lack of Dine Out Vancouver choices from all over the Lower Mainland, only four of 215 Dine Out restaurants are Chinese. And not one of those is in Richmond. You’d think that Dine Out Vancouver would be an obvious way to connect with the broader audience—but apparently not. The main reason being that you have to be a member of Tourism Vancouver to participate.
The HSBC Chinese Restaurant Awards add up to a fitting (and highly informative) salute to Greater Vancouver’s impressive Chinese dining scene.
But there’s plenty of work to be done to make Chinese dining even more accessible to a still largely unfamiliar, other-than-Chinese audience.
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Great comments Tim. I agree completely with your Sustainability Award idea as well as your Dine Out observation. More Chinese Restaurants need to participate in Dine Out. I suspect the stumbling block for some of the Chinese restaurants is that you have to be a member of Tourism Vancouver to participate in Dine Out. Tourism Richmond does a lot to promote it’s Chinese culinary scene whereas this has not yet become a focus for Tourism Vancouver.
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