RICHMOND IS KNOWN as Little Asia or the New Chinatown because 43.6 per cent of its population, the largest number in any Canadian municipality in 2006, is of Chinese descent. Its Golden Village, the area along No. 3 Road that has a concentration of Asian malls, markets and restaurants, is now easily reached by SkyTrain from downtown Vancouver. From Richmond Centre and Lansdowne Centre to Yaohan Centre, Empire Centre and the enormous Aberdeen Centre, each shopping mall is packed with Asian-themed stores, grocery stores and dim sum houses and ethnic restaurants, each with its own character and attractions that take hours to explore. Here’s where you can browse fashion stores and trendy shops alongside gaggles of young Asians, sit down for a meal beside three generations of the same family and listen to a conversation carried out in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
For some of the best mall eats in the Golden Village, visit Aberdeen Centre, whose food court contains such well-known fare as Beard Papa’s cream puffs, Café D’Lite’s laksa noodles and Jang Mo Jib’s Korean barbecue dishes (then stroll through Daiso, the two-dollar megastore). The mall is also home to such award-winning restaurants as Tropika (Thai and Malaysian), Northern Delicacy (Shanghai and Sichuanese) and Fisherman’s Terrace (dim sum and seafood).
A 10-minute walk from Aberdeen Centre is Richmond’s restaurant strip, Alexandra Road, where deciding which restaurant to dine in will likely take more than 10 minutes. (This street is called wai sek kai, “Eating Street,” by locals.) The options range from a medley of Chinese dim sum and seafood houses, including the award-winning Jade Seafood Restaur-ant and Empire Chinese Cuisine, to Japanese sushi places and izakayas, Korean barbecue houses, Taiwanese cafés, Chinese noodle and you-cook hot pot places. Since eating out is a popular pastime for Asian families, reservations are highly recommended for Friday dinners, and for both lunch and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays!
Not on Alexandra Road but still close by are Delicious Cuisine and Zephyr Tea House Café, beautifully decorated Taiwanese cafés that sit side by side on the other side of No. 3 Road off Alderbridge Way. Other great bets in Richmond include Bubble Fruity on Saba Road, which specializes in Chinese dessert soups; the Shanghainese Suhang Restaurant, especially for beggar’s chicken (mud-baked chicken Hangzhou-style) stuffed with sticky rice, wrapped in lotus leaves and then cooked in a mud ball, which is as interesting to look at as it is tasty; and New Asia Deli and Pearl Castle, two of the dozens of Asian eateries inside Continental Centre, a strip mall on Sexsmith Road.
Richmond is also home to the largest Asian-style open market outside of Asia, the Summer Night Market along River Road that operates from May to September. Located in a large field by the river in an industrial zone and filled with hundreds of red awnings, the market offers electronic and household products, pet supplies and trendy fashions as well as centre-stage entertainment and contests (including eating and food-related challenges). The most talked-about feature is the huge, smoky street food area serving global fare such as Cantonese fish balls, dragon beard thread desserts, Korean pancakes, roasted corn, Filipino barbecue, Vietnamese spring rolls, dim sum, Japanese takoyaki, roti, bubble teas and Taiwanese desserts. Squeeze through the crowds to peer into the sizzling woks, hissing steamers and bubbling deep fryers. Although plastic forks and flimsy chopsticks are provided if you want to sample, go ahead and use your fingers. Everyone is welcome, and admission is free!