Customers will pick the top 10 Chinese restaurants in Metro Vancouver and judges will select the best dishes
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Food critics will be judging many Chinese dishes, including dim sum (pictured above). Photograph by : Larry Wong, Canwest News Service
Sometimes, there’s too much of a good thing. And that’s the case with Chinese restaurants in Metro Vancouver.
Just how do you start to take advantage of all that there is? And there’s a lot worth trying as Chinese food here is considered the best in North America.
Well, help is on the way. The Chinese Restaurant Awards, created by a group of Chinese food lovers, will result in a guide to the best places for 25 Chinese dishes (decided by a passionate panel of judges) and to the 10 top Chinese restaurants by style (decided by a public poll on the Web).
The group is so new, it’s just calling itself the Chinese Restaurants Awards.
The winning restaurants will be announced on Jan. 15 at the inaugural awards ceremony.
Rae Kung, a volunteer project manager, says the Chinese dining community think more in terms of dishes than restaurants, thus the reason for judging the 25 best dishes.
“I’m Chinese and when I go to a restaurant, I go for a certain dish. I go because it has the best dim sum or best northern Chinese food or have the best method of cooking chicken.”
The dishes the food critics will be judging include crab, king crab, shrimp, lobster, Cantonese/Hong Kong-style dim sum, northern/Shanghai-style dim sum, congee, noodles and rice, dessert, Chinese pastry, barbecue, soup, fish and an innovative dish.
The awards, Kung says, are a great way of promoting the Chinese culture and Vancouver‘s Chinese restaurants locally and to the rest of the world.
The judges, she says, are food writers and people who are passionate about Chinese food.
“I moved from Hong Kong two years ago and like a lot of Chinese, I like to go out and eat. As well, Westerners like to explore and try different things.”
Cate Simpson, a publicist for the event, says the Western diner probably chooses a Chinese restaurant slightly differently.
“Service and decor accounts for a little more. For me, this list of award winners is going to be great because when I go to a place like Sun Sui Wah, I’ll know what to order along with my regular favourites.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2008