Vancouver has the best Cantonese food in North America. Not the best dim sum (Hong Kong wins) but the best long-tail of regional Cantonese cooking, especially in Richmond. Here’s where to go and what to order.
The case is straightforward: Vancouver has the largest Cantonese diaspora outside Asia, the chefs followed the diaspora, the restaurants are good in proportion. The dim sum specifically is excellent but it’s the dinner places that win against any comparable North American city — the rest of the menu, the wine list, the way they treat the tea ceremony.
For dim sum: Sun Sui Wah on Main Street has been the canonical answer for thirty years and remains so. Cart service Saturday and Sunday mornings (get there by 11). Order the salt-and-pepper squid, the BBQ pork buns, the egg custard tarts. The dim sum carts are a real cart service — you point, they put it on your table — not the order-from-a-menu version most cities have now.
For dinner: HK BBQ Master in Richmond. Walk in. They have roast duck, char siu, and roast pork all hanging in the window. You order at the counter, they cut and weigh, and you eat at a small table or take it away. Get a half duck, half a pound of char siu, two plates of greens, and bring a friend. Cash only; closes when they run out.
Worth the bridge: Kirin in Richmond Centre for a more upscale dinner; Maxim’s at Aberdeen Centre for the late-night soup dumplings.