Quote:
Originally Posted by ozonemania
I am a little curious about this. Places like this Roaming Dragon food cart, places like that chain that seems to be around Wok Box, and the recent news about a new 'traditional Chinese restaurant that serves sweet and sour pork Peking duck fried noodles in a modern setting' Chinois -- are these kind of places that fit Vancouver? With one third the population Chinese and a relatively educated general population of what good authentic Asian food is, I am wondering if these guys have the right idea.
How are places like Wild Rice and Bao Bei doing? Where would they fit in terms of authenticity vs popularity?
Sorry to be offtopic re: street food.
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good point. I would like to think that it boils down to darwinism -that if an asian fusion place (or any restaurant, really) has the right emphasis/mix of food, presentation, room and price point they can't lose.
Some 'authentic' chinese places have awesome and unique food and very reasonable prices, but have curt service and less ambiance. top shanghai restaurant on ackroyd would fit this bill. only a third of their menu is in english, and you really have to know the food or read chinses to know what to get.
another great thing, IMO is that even if a richmond chinese restaurant is geared towards a younger/more upward clientle, it would not be unusual for you to see families, seniors and babies at the restaurant, if the food is good.
you would rarely see this at western restaurants, but then again some might like this.
bao bei is on the other side of the spectrum. they have a really nice room and ambiance, an extensive drink list (rare for chinese restos), accessible menus, but the food is serviceable compared to some of the richmond places and prices are very high compared to other ch. restaurants.