Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant (map, 110 – 8380 Lansdowne Road, Richmond, BC, Canada, phone: 604-278-8829) serves authentic and delicious dishes from Shanghai, China. Reservations are a must, and consider going a bit early to avoid the rush. They open for dinner from 5pm to 9:45pm and for lunch from 11am to 2:45pm, closed Tuesdays.

This restaurant is so popular among the Asian community that if you arrive later in the evening you’ll probably find a line-up right out the door. Recommended dishes include the Duck with Taro Coat ($13.95, pictured below), the Deep Fried Tofu with Minced Pork Sauce ($8.88, also pictured below), the Pan Fried Pork Buns ($4.50, pictured below), and the deep fried bread served with condensed milk. Also check out their seafood, especially the crab (market price), as well as their fancy Peking duck, and tasty Lettuce Wrap ($10.95).

The restaurant is only a short taxi ride from the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, and is close to the soon-to-be completed Canada Line public transport train that will connect Richmond with downtown Vancouver. Once the Canada Line is completed (in 2009), you will be able to walk to Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant from the Lansdowne Station. The restaurant is across the street from the Zellers, Best Buy and the Lansdowne Shopping Mall in Richmond.

Click here for a printable copy of their take-out menu.

Deep fried duck with Taro Coat (Half) – $13.95

Deep fried Tofu with Minced Pork Sauce ($8.88)

Pan Fried Pork Bun ($4.50)

Deep fried bread served with condensed milk (tasted like a doughnut, only better!)

Click above for printable take-out menu.

Hon’s Wun-Tun House (1339 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-685-0871) is a large cafeteria-style Chinese restaurant downtown that is very popular with families and casual diners because of the low prices and generous portions.

Hon’s has other locations in Chinatown (288 East Pender Street, Vancouver, 604-681-8842), New Westminister (408 6th St, New Westminster, 604-520-6661), Coquitlam (310 – 3025 Lougheed Hwy, Coquitlam, 604-468-0871), and Richmond (101 – 4600 No. 3 Road, Richmond, 604-273-0871).

Hon’s on Robson has an open kitchen concept, with a totally separate kitchen for Vegetarian dishes as well as a special area where they prepare the potstickers. On Saturday during the day Hon’s serves Chinese Dim Sum, which is always a special treat. We ordered the many Vegetarian Dim Sum items pictured below, and our total bill for two people came to just under $20.

Vegetarian Potstickers ($3.25)

Chinese Vegetarian Siu Mai dim sum ($3.00)

Chinese Vegetarian Sticky Rice ($3.00)

Chinese Vegetarian Bean Curd Roll ($2.75)

Steamed Vegetarian Pork Dumpling ($3.00)

Mango Pudding Cake ($2.50)

Be sure to get your leftovers to go! Hons Chinese food is good for take-out too.

Maruchu Japanese BBQ Dining (2065 – 4580 #3 Road, Richmond, BC, Canada, phone 604-214-3770) offers an authentic Japanese version of the popular Korean BBQ style dinner, where you are given marinated meats and cook them yourself at a grill at your table. If you’ve tried Korean BBQ before you’ll find the Japanese style quite similar, but perhaps a bit less spicy. Reservations are recommended, as the restaurant is quite small and gets full on weekends. Price per person is in the $20-30 range, depending on how hungry you are!

A plate of raw meat that is marinated and topped with sesame seeds and green onion.

A plate of marinated meat before we cooked it on the BBQ at the table.

The BBQ in action!