ontrak_autumn_2017_new

EAT
Samsoonie Noodle & Rice
140 – 8211 Westminster Highway
Xi’An Cuisine
Richmond Public Market, second floor
2370 – 8260 Westminster Highway
Su Hang Restaurant
suhang.ca
Jade Restaurant
jaderestaurant.ca
4 Stones Vegetarian Cuisine
fourstonesvegetarian.com
R&H Chinese Food
Lansdowne Food Court
5300 No. 3 Road
STAY
Westin Wall Centre,
Vancouver Airport
westinvancouverairport.com
Four Points by Sheraton
Vancouver Airport
fourpointsvancouverairport.com
PLAY
Richmond Night Market
richmondnightmarket.com
Olympic Experience
at the Richmond Olympic Oval
Richmondoval.ca/therox
My theory held up during lunch at Samsoonie Noodles
and Rice, a Korean restaurant where the top dumpling is
the Mandu, a football-shaped pastry filled with minced
meat. Served with kimchi, it got my day off to a spicy start.
The guo tie (potstickers) at Xi’an Cuisine in the Richmond
Public Market’s food court were top notch, the spicy
wonton made my tastebuds dance and the crispy beef roll
was a pleasant culinary side trip away from dumplings. The
stop also taught me that food courts aren’t necessarily a bad
thing—and reminded me to pace myself. When I left I was
so full I had to wander the aisles of a local supermarket just
to work it off so I could eat again.
I headed to upscale, Shanghaiese-style family restaurant
Su Hang for water boiled dumplings (shui jiao) as well as
steamed vegetable dumplings and was treated to a window
view of the dumpling making. I also ordered the yellow fish
because it was my last meal of the day.
I started the next morning off with a group of journalists
doing dim sum at Jade Restaurant. Since I’m kosher,
I skipped the shrimp and pork and enjoyed the
scallion dumplings.
Don’t cry for me, though. It gave me more room at my
favorite stop of the day, Taiwanese 4 Stones Vegetarian
Restaurant, where everything tasted meaty but wasn’t, including
the gyoza, the ma po tofu and General Tso’s chicken.
Yes, I know, those aren’t all dumpling dishes, but when
it’s this good, I’ll make an exception.
I finished my brief tour by enjoying the most unusual
dumpling of the trip, xiao long bao, at R&H Chinese Food
in the Lansdowne Mall Food Court. Eating it properly
required a deft hand—you have to hold it between chopsticks,
bite into it and suck out the soup before it leaks. I
won’t comment on how successful I was, but I did have to
change shirts after the meal was done.
36 | FALL 2017
ontrakmag.com