So we just landed in Vancouver,
and obviously the first stop that we wanna hit
is some good-quality dim sum.
Herrine: There are over 600 Chinese restaurants
in Vancouver and its surrounding areas,
and about 20% of the people living in Vancouver
come from Chinese heritage,
according to the most recent census data.
Dim sum, specifically Cantonese-style dim sum,
is a delicious way to enjoy small bites
of a variety of different kinds of food.
Popular items are shu mai, pork buns, and sticky rice.
Tea also plays a big role in the meal,
which is why it's typically served
for breakfast or for lunch.
- It's a little late in the day,
and I know that most dim sum places
close midafternoon, so we found a place
that serves dim sum all day.
That will be our first stop.
It's called Jade Dynasty, and I have high hopes
because Vancouver's supposed to be known
for some great dim sum.
Let's go eat as much dim sum as we possibly can.
I was on an eight-hour flight, so just don't mind me.
I'll see you when we're at Jade's.
Herrine: In all, we'll be hitting up
three dim sums in BC.
After Jade Dynasty in Chinatown,
we'll visit Chef Tony in Richmond
and Dynasty Seafood in Fairview Slopes.
We decided to order items that seemed like
they'd be readily available at most restaurants.
Can we get the prawn dumplings,
the steamed shu mai, the sticky-rice wraps,
and the steamed sesame-curd buns with egg yolk?
What is your most popular thing on this menu?
Server: How about spring roll?
This one's good.
- The prawn spring roll is the house specialty,
so I guess we'll get one of those too.
Oh, and the barbecue pork buns.
Herrine: I really love dim sum,
so I was very excited to see how
each place interpreted these classic dishes.
- See this, not what I was hoping for.
If I've learned anything from my experiences
with dim sum in the past, it's to not immediately
eat dumplings that are steaming hot like this
unless you're looking to burn your tongue.
So I'mma let this dumpling chill for a second.
That's a pretty promising bite
for the first bite in Vancouver.
There's just full, full, full
flipping chunks of shrimp in these dumplings,
which is, I appreciate that.
Wow, more, more, shu mai, my favorite.
I love how the barbecue pork is actually peeking out.
Whoa.
Now that's a good-looking pork bun.
Hopefully I don't burn myself.
I'm very tired. I don't know where that accent came from.
This is another one that I'm normally not a fan of,
but if it's anything like the sticky rice
that really surprised me, I think I'm gonna like this.
Vancouver is really just...
changing how I feel about dim sum as a whole.
This, I would never order this normally.
This is so good!
Herrine: The next day, we headed over
to Chef Tony's in Richmond to try some of
Vancouver's most popular dim sum.
- We came here at 11:30 expecting to not have to wait
or book a reservation, I guess, in advance.
Forty-five minutes, waiting 45 minutes for dim sum.
We are gonna get the black-truffle
pork and shrimp dumplings,
the shrimp and matsutake dumplings,
the barbecue pork bun, of course,
the wild rice, sticky rice and meat wrapped in lotus leaf,
and the rice noodles, but they have four different kinds,
and I can't pick which one,
so we're just gonna ask which one's the most popular.
Last but not least, we're gonna get the Yi Dong special:
egg-white custard tarts.
It's really, really hard for me right now
to stay on course and just order the staples
because everything on this menu
looks so good.
But we have to stick to the course, right, Sydney?
Herrine: Our waiter insisted on helping us
pick a few additional Chef Tony items.
- The steamed cuttlefish-ink shrimp dumplings?
- Got it, got it.
- It has edible gold on top.
- Edible gold on top!
- Yes.
- Is that kind of what Chef Tony's known for,
kind of making everything fancy?
- Yes. As for the taro, we do have the pan-fried one.
- Got it, the taro cake.
- I think you can stop me right now.
It's OK right now, if you decide you want to order later,
other than the egg tart.
- Can we get the spare ribs?
- OK.
- Great, thank you so much.
♪ We got the spare ribs. ♪
That might be the best egg tart that I've ever had.
Oh, there's more food.
I love me some shu mai, but I think what sets this one apart
is that Chef Tony adds black truffle,
and that smell is just, I'm drowning in it.
I can't wait to eat this one.
Black truffle belongs on shu mai.
Everything is super light, not too heavy.
This sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf is super aromatic.
The rice is chewy and salty
and has this sausage on top. I love it.
Shall we move on?
The cuttlefish-ink shrimp dumpling
might be the best thing we ordered here.
Not just because it has gold flecks on top,
but the moment you take a bite of this,
it's like you're biting into a good, seafood-y dumpling.
I feel like I'm having dim sum in a new way here.
♪ I love pork buns so much. ♪
Overall, I think there is a reason
why we waited 45 minutes to sit here.
The food, I mean, everything, even the dishes that
I don't normally like at dim sum, I enjoyed.
I'm so happy.
Look at this spread. Look at this spread.
It's the best spread of all time.
Sometimes some places have dishes that are hit-or-miss.
Everything here is just, it's a hit.
They're all hits.
Herrine: Final dim sum spot was the upscale
Dynasty Seafood Restaurant in Fairview Slopes.
- I'm just going to try and look for
dishes that we've had in the past.
So we can get the steamed shrimp dumpling,
the shu mai, and the sticky rice in lotus leaves,
the egg tart, and did we order
the barbecue pork bun already?
Man: Ah, nope, you didn't.
- Of all of the signature ones
that have these little emblems,
what would you say is the most popular?
- I always recommend this one.
- Baked barbecue-pork pie with lemon?
- Yep, that's the most popular, our signature.
- I guess we'll get that too.
Server: That's it?
- Is that enough for two of us?
So I guess wherever you go,
you're gonna get some kind of
fancy dim sum plate that's their signature.
This is what they said is the closest thing to
the steamed rice roll that we've had at other places.
And obviously, this one is pan-fried.
It smells really good.
Obviously, they're pan-fried, so they have
a little bit more crunch to them.
They're not as greasy, though,
as I was expecting it to be,
and because it's pan-fried, I'm assuming,
with the soy sauce in one pot versus just
kind of dipping or pouring the soy sauce over it,
you're getting the soy-sauce flavor all throughout.
What's this?
This is the deep-fried taro cake
with foie gras and barbecue pork.
That sounds very extra.
I surprisingly really, really like this,
and I think it's because the most outstanding part
of the overall dish is that the taro, outer layer,
is the kind of base flavor for the whole thing.
Yes, vegetables.
I like it a lot.
This is a necessary thing right now, vegetables.
Too hot.
I think this may have cooled down a little bit.
So let's go back to this.
So the shrimp-dumpling
wrapper
has just been kind of falling apart
because I think it was oversteamed.
But I see full chunks of shrimp, so that's a good sign.
Let's give this a whirl, shall we?
Well, it's really good.
But I just scalded the front half of my tongue.
This is part of the experience.
I feel like this is part of the experience.
I like how this one actually has
a lot of pork bun filling in it
as opposed to other places that we've been to.
The ratio here is the best.
It's definitely the porkiest.
I feel like I've had better barbecue sauce,
but the filling-to-wrapper ratio
and the porky flavor wins here.
This is one of my favorite dishes at dim sum,
and I have never ever been disappointed with
a pork shu mai or a pork shrimp shu mai.
This one also does not disappoint.
The only thing is the wrapper is a little thicker.
So this is what the server recommended us get.
It is one of their signature dishes and one of their
most popular dim sum dishes here at Dynasty.
I didn't know if the lemon and the pork
would really kind of go together.
But I'm pleasantly surprised.
I think it's the acidity and the lemon brightness
kind of go very well together with the barbecue pork,
and that flaky pie crust
is everything.
Herrine: After successfully
stuffing myself full of Vancouver's best dim sum,
it was time to decide which one was my favorite.
- We just finished eating at three different dim sum spots.
It was a great experience.
I feel so stuffed, but I have things to say,
and I'm ready to declare a winner.
We went to three places.
We went to Jade, and they do all-day dim sum.
We went to Chef Tony in Richmond.
We went to Dynasty in Fairview.
They all had their high points.
For instance, Jade: all-day dim sum,
and you can get your dim sum craving
night and day, any time of the week,
which I think is their best point.
Other than that, I think their dim sum
was pretty much standard.
There wasn't that many options to choose from.
Chef Tony's, that place was packed.
We were waiting 45 minutes on like a Wednesday at noon,
and we waited so long, but it was worth the wait.
Chef Tony puts very innovative ingredients
into his otherwise classic dim sum dishes,
and each different little twist on those dishes
really, really, really paid off for me at the end
because I enjoyed each and every dish.
And finally, Dynasty.
Dynasty was more on the higher-end scale of things.
It was fine dining, kind of.
I think the biggest takeaway for me is that
Dynasty got me to like foie gras
and got me to like taro even more, so
that's what I have to say about Dynasty.
I think it's pretty much apparent
from the way that I have described these three places,
and if you watched the whole journey,
you will probably be able to guess
which one was my favorite.
It was Chef Tony's.
Chef Tony, I mean, we ordered so much.
That spread was quite large,
but, I mean, it was hard to pick
even the most favorite dish of that restaurant
because everything was so good.
The bitter-gourd steamed rice roll,
that vibrant green, it wasn't just for show.
It actually was one of the best
steamed rice roll dim sum that I've ever had.
Their cuttlefish-ink shrimp dumplings
were so delicious, and every dumpling wasn't
cooked six hours ago and reheated.
Nothing was sticking together.
Everything was made fresh.
The ingredients all tasted fresh,
and it was light, and it didn't weigh you down
as much as the other two places did.
So that's my verdict.
I thought that Chef Tony was
the best dim sum place in Vancouver.
But obviously, we didn't hit all the spots,
so let us know in the comments section
if we missed any other great dim sum spots
and which one your favorite is
because I will be coming back to Vancouver.
This city is amazing.
Until next time.