Chen's

A few years ago, one of my favorite things to eat was the Shanghai steamed dumplings (xiao long bao) and the best place to have it in Vancouver is a place called Chen's in Richmond.  A few years back, the place was just a hole in the wall and we felt like it was such a find.  It was small and dirty, but the food was the best and cheap too!  It was opened by a Shanghainese couple.  The husband was the chef in the kitchen while the wife ran the front of the house.  In the afternoon when it wasn't as busy, she can be found in her front counter wrapping the dumplings. 

Now, the restaurant really looks like a restaurant.  It's got tiles, painted walls, decent tabels and chairs.  It's also much bigger.  Aside from the husband and wife, they have also hired more people to help out.  Even though it's bigger, you still have to wait in line because the food hasn't changed in quality and still not expensive.

My family still loves this place and today, we came here for dinner.


Some of the food we ordered today:
For the appetizer, we had cold veggies with beancurd and sesame oil.  It's tastes so much better than it looks.

Some glutten with peanuts and pig's ear mushrooms.

 Vegetable wonton soup

Green onion pancake.

Dan dan noodles

And of course xiao long bao.  There's so much soup, it fills up the whole spoon.

This place is a rare one.  They are so consistant and there isn't a dish they bring out that isn't good.  It's too bad there's only so much you can fit in your stomach in one meal.