The Guide to Vancouver's Chinese Restaurants

Ann Turner is Financial and Budget Manager at the University of British
Columbia Library.

With more than 100,000 residents, Vancouver’s Chinese community is second only to that of San Francisco in size. And second only to Hong Kong itself in the quality of its restaurants, according to Ginger Chang. Her book is intended to be an informative guide to 91 of these restaurants, which cover all four of the Chinese regional cuisines and range from large and elegant to small and shabby. All are located in Vancouver or its suburbs, and they represent about 85 percent of the total population of restaurants serving authentic Chinese food in that area. The guide is arranged alphabetically by restaurant name, with indexes by regional cuisine and by specialty (dim sum, won ton, vegetarian). For each restaurant the guide provides the address, telephone number, price of an average meal for two, hours of opening, whether reservations are required, liquor license provisions, and credit cards accepted, in addition to a description of the restaurant and its menu. Seven recipes, specialties of the houses that contributed them, have been included “to take the mystery out of Chinese restaurant cooking.” Ms. Chang, who has visited many of the restaurants personally, includes her own admittedly subjective and often critical comments on the quality of the food and service. An especially useful feature for beginning connoisseurs is the extensive glossary of ingredients. The Guide would be useful to any lover of Chinese cuisine who finds himself in the Vancouver area, and even members of Vancouver’s own Chinese-Canadian community may find new favourites in its pages.