Richmond Tops the Menu at the 2020 Chinese Restaurant Awards

Restaurants throughout Richmond have scooped up accolades at the annual Chinese Restaurant Awards. The prestigious celebration of 2020’s most memorable Metro Vancouver Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine is divided into two main parts—the Critics’ Choice Signature Dish Awards and the Diners’ Choice Awards. 

2020 AWARD WINNERS

This year is especially meaningful because every award is a heartfelt appreciation for the restaurant industry’s hard work and dedication.

CRITIC’S CHOICE AWARD WINNERS

Celebrated food critics and dining experts Alexandra Gill, Brendon Matthews, Lee Man, and William Ho Wood Kuen returned as judges this year to uncover the region’s best signature dishes. Richmond restaurants accounted for 4 out of 12 of the signature dishes selected, plus an additional honourable mention. The Richmond award winners and their mouthwatering dishes include:

• Emperor’s Kitchen (Sweet & Sour Pork Tenderloin)
• Little Fox Bakehouse (Vitasoy Flavoured Cream Puff)
• The Dolar Shop (Exquisite Silver Soup Base)
• Xi’An Noodle Restaurant (Xin Jiang Braised Chicken And Potato Platter With Biang Biang Noodles)
• L’Opera Patisserie (Honourable Mention, Salted Duck Egg Yolk Croissant)

Though L’Opera Patisserie is slated to close in August, the critics felt the salted duck egg yolk croissant represented a creative “east meets west” version of the iconic pastry, and thus will always remain a sweet memory.

Click here for a full list of the winners.

DINER’S CHOICE AWARD WINNERS

Out of 24 restaurants, 18 Richmond restaurants were voted by diners to be the best restaurant in various categories. New to the 2020 Diner’s Choice Awards were the categories of best Sichuan spicy grilled fish, best steamed/baked BBQ pork bun, best lamb skewers, and best brown sugar milk. The Chinese Restaurant Awards also teamed up with Fantuan this year to present two new categories of awards: Best Fantuan’s Takeout Restaurant and Most Popular Restaurant on Fantuan Reviews.

• Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant (Best Steamed/Baked BBQ Pork Bun)
• Happy Tree House BBQ (Best Sichuan Spicy Grill Fish)
• Xing Fu Tang (Best Brown Sugar Pearl Milk)
• HaiDiLao Hot Pot (Best Services Restaurant)
• Kirin Restaurants (Best Dim Sum Restaurant)
• Fortune Terrace Chinese Cuisine (Best Cantonese Restaurant)
• Dinesty Dumpling House (Best Shanghainese Restaurant)
• Miss Fu in Cheng Du (Best Szechuan Restaurant)
• Memory Corner (Best Taiwanese Restaurant/BBT Café)
• Geng Shi Ji (Best Hunan Restaurant)
• Happy Day Café (Best Hong Kong-style Café)
• Double Double Restaurant (Best Congee and/or Noodle Restaurant)
• HK BBQ Master (Best BBQ Shop)
• iTofu – Tofu Dessert Specialty Shop (Best Dessert Restaurant)
• Bubble Waffle Café (Best Food Court Stall)
• St. Germain Bakery (Best Bakery Shop)
• HaiDiLao Hot Pot (Best Fantuan Takeout Restaurant)
• Hushifu Chicken Hot Pot (Most Popular Restaurant on Fantuan Reviews)

The Chinese Restaurant Awards’ Diner’s Choice Awards were created for the public to help celebrate the wonderful array of Chinese cuisine found in Metro Vancouver. And once again, the public has spoken: Richmond’s Chinese restaurant scene just can’t be beat!

Click here for the full list of winners.

LAST YEAR’S WINNERS

Looking for more dining ideas? The following Richmond restaurants won Chinese Restaurant Awards in 2019.

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Celebrated food critics and dining experts Alexandra Gill, Brendon Matthews, Lee Man, and William Ho Wood Kuen spent many months discovering the region’s Chinese and Taiwanese culinary treasures before finally agreeing on 11 must-eat dishes that exemplify the scene’s finest dining. Richmond restaurants accounted for 7 of the 11 Critics’ Choice winners.

From Richmond, these top 2019 restaurants and their mouthwatering dishes included:

• Fortune Terrace Chinese Cuisine (Crispy Roast Pork Belly)
• Mama’s Dumpling (Shanghai-style Fried Pork Buns)
• The Fish Man (Stir Fry Spicy Clams)
• Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant (BC Geoduck Duo: Steamed Fillets with Wasabi and Stir Fry with Eggs & Black Truffle)
• Mui Kee Chicken Pot (Herbal Chinese Wine Chicken Pot)
• The Jade Seafood Restaurant, which won for two dishes (Slow-cooked Angus Triple A Short Beef Rib with Black Pepper Sauce and also Dried Scallop & Vermicelli in Clay Pot)

Several Richmond restaurants were first-time winners of these Critics’ Choice accolades, including Mama’s Dumpling, The Fish Man, and Mui Kee Chicken Pot.

DINERS’ CHOICE 

The 2019 Diners’ Choice winners—chosen from a public poll that attracted almost 33,000 votes—also saw Richmond winning big, scooping the top spot in 17 of the 23 available categories.

These Richmond winners included:

• iTofu (Best Tofu Pudding)
• HaiDiLao Hot Pot (Best New Restaurant and Best Hot Pot Restaurant)
• The Dolar Shop (Best Services Restaurant)
• Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant (Best Dim Sum Restaurant and Best Cantonese Restaurant)
• Emperor’s Kitchen (Best Northern Chinese Restaurant)
• HK B.B.Q Master (Best B.B.Q. Shop)
• Too Two Chinese Sauerkraut Fish (Best Szechuan Restaurant)
• Tian Shi Fu Restaurant (Best Hunan Restaurant)
• Kam Do Bakery (Best Bakery Shop)
• Bubble Waffle Café, Aberdeen Centre (Best Food Court Stall)
• Maojiao Bobo Fish (Best Fantuan Takeout Restaurant).

A new Diners’ Choice category was also won by Richmond’s HK B.B.Q Master, which scooped the Most Voted Restaurant accolade after receiving 1022 votes—more than any other establishment—when it won Best B.B.Q Shop category for the ninth year.

Metro Vancouver restaurant chains with branches in Richmond also topped the voting in several other Diners’ Choice categories. These included Dinesty Dumpling House (Best Shanghainese Restaurant); Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea (Best Taiwanese Restaurant/BBT Café); and Deer Garden Signatures (Best Hong Kong-Style Café).

Last Updated on October 25, 2023 by Tourism Richmond