Best Casual Chinese Restaurants 2011

Alvin Garden

4850 Imperial St.
Burnaby, 604-437-0828

At Alvin Garden (Gold) the searingly spicy cooking is unlike anything else in Vancouver. Punches of heat are balanced against vinegary tang and tight seasoning—this is not for the faint of heart. Lamb with cumin, beef with picked peppers, and spicy pork heart all snap the heat lash. (For the more timid, the tea-smoked duck is one of the best iterations in the city.) Good Choice (Silver) reunites the cooking team from Super Happiness (same location) with a concentration on Cantonese-style home cooking raised with just the right amount of savoury seasoning. Judges loved first-draw soy sauce crab, all briny sweetness and salty green onion; and lush, tender Swatow-style soy-braised duck. Ho Yuen Kee (Bronze) continues to provide fortunate crabs with happy endings: try fried whole over lotus-leaf-perfumed sticky rice studded with corn and tobiko.

Finalists for Best Casual Chinese Restaurants 2011

 
Return to all Restaurant Awards 2011 results