A Rich Hub for Food
If you know, you know. If you’re hungry for sizzling hotpot and fragrant xiao long bao, for epic dim sum feasts and izakaya grazing menus, for bubble tea and bibimbap and barbecue pork, for fish ‘n’ chips on the wharf and tornado potatoes at the night market, Richmond is the place to go.
“It’s such a perfect place to hang out. There’s so much food and drink, even after hours,” says William Lew, the executive chef at Richmond’s new Versante Hotel. “There’s a lot to experience and there’s a lot of exciting restaurants. There’s a lot more happening here than I ever realized. And the funny thing is I used to come here every day for food.”
That was back when he was chef de cuisine at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and, before that, sous-chef at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. Now that he’s working in Richmond, though, he’s discovering a whole new side to the city — and adding a few flavours of his own.
He’s not the only one, of course. This gateway city was already home to an estimated 900 restaurants, many of them tucked away in food courts and strip malls. Most are Asian, which is no surprise since three-quarters of the people who live here have an Asian background, mainly Chinese, but also Indian, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese. And many of Richmond’s restaurants enjoy the bounty from the city’s 200 farms that grow vegetables, flowers and berries. Then there’s the freshly caught seafood from Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf.
As Lew says, “this is a hub for food.” And it’s just become a whole lot more delicious with the addition of three exciting new places to dine.
Baan Lao Fine Thai Cuisine
“We want to create an experience with the hospitality and the ambience,” says Nutcha Phanthoupheng, executive chef at Baan Lao Fine Thai Cuisine. “We want you to eat with your eyes first, and we want you to feel the ambience.”
Baan Lao opened last February in a shiny new development on the shores of the Fraser River, where it flows past the historic fishing village of Steveston. Elegant, high-ceilinged, modern and opulent, it is a glamourous showcase for the elevated cuisine Phanthoupheng learned from chefs at Michelin-starred restaurants in Thailand, such as Blue Elephant in Bangkok.
“The food that I make is famous in Thailand. I learned it from my mentors, who served the Thai royal family,” Phan- thoupheng says, with the help of a translator. She describes her menu as a journey through Thailand featuring her per- sonalized take on familiar dishes such as pad Thai and tom yum soup. Ingredients are fresh from local farms and waters, and gold flakes, microgreens and caviar feature generously.
“It’s authentic, it’s very authentic. It’s all handmade,” she says, though she admits she’s modified the spice levels for a western palate. “We’ve adjusted the intensity of the flavouring. If we were to do extremely spicy, to what Thais like, Canadians would not be able to consume it.”
Each night, a select few diners gather to enjoy chef’s set tasting menu, paired, if they like, with fine wines selected by master sommelier Pier-Alexis Soulière, handcrafted cocktails designed by Kaitlyn Stewart, world class bartender of the year in 2017, and precious teas chosen by certified tea sommelier Emmanuelle Viennois. The focus, Phanthoupheng says, is on “location, presentation, taste and service.”
She adds: “We don’t need 50 people. We’re happy with just 20 people. Plus we let our customers stay and enjoy. We want you to appreciate the fine art of dining. We want people to experience the food. We want everything to be the best.”
This is the kind of high-end dining experience you would expect in a large, sophisticated urban centre, not a cosy little fishing village. But after a two-year search for the perfect location, Phanthoupheng knew right away this is where she wanted to be.
“I wanted waterfront and I wanted quiet and charming. We looked in White Rock, in Richmond, and we like it here. It’s a quiet, charming, small city and we want to raise our children here,” she says.
She was also convinced that people would journey to Steveston to dine in a restaurant like Baan Lao, and it seems she’s right. Despite pandemic restrictions, diners have come from as far as Toronto, New York and Washington DC, as well as throughout Metro Vancouver. They’ve even flown in from out of town just for dinner.
“We love Richmond,” says Phanthoupheng. “This is an amazing little city and Steveston is a charming community. It’s just a lovely place to be.”
Baan Lao Fine Thai Cuisine
4100 Bayview St., Richmond
baanlao.ca | 778.839.5711 | @baanlaosteveston
Jamoneria by ARC Iberico Imports
A bit further east, in a rambling industrial park, a white tent covers four highly prized tables in a warehouse parking lot. Behind them, doors open onto an Aladdin’s cave of fine Spanish fare: precious canned seafood known as conservas, ranging in price from $13 to $90; tins of smoked paprika; bottles of sherry vinegar; bags of truffle potato chips and gleaming packages of iberico ham and Manchego cheese.
This is ARC Iberico Imports, where you can pick up everything you need for your next tapas feast or just sit at the “jamoneria” bar and enjoy paper-thin slices of dry-cured, acorn-fed ham alongside a glass of cava or sherry.
“The jamon is a perfect pairing with sparkling wine,” says Antonio Romero Casado, the CEO of this hybrid import-dining operation. He is Canada’s only master ham carver and hails from Malaga, Spain, where his family owns a popular restaurant. He began importing Spanish foods four years ago; then, in October 2020, he opened the Richmond store and in July 2021 followed it with the jamoneria, a wine and tapas bar that specializes in iberico ham.
Casado chose the neighbourhood because he needed a warehouse and wanted one close to the airport. Besides, he knew there would be traffic from people working in nearby businesses and says: “People kind of like it because it’s a destination.”
On weekdays, people who work in Richmond, Vancouver and Burnaby swing by for the sandwiches, known as bocadillos. Then on Saturdays and Sundays, shoppers drop in to stock up on conservas and stay to take a seat on the patio or at the bar and graze through the weekend-only tapas menu. (Reservations are highly recommended.) That could mean a “tosta” topped with jamon iberico. Or perhaps some of the tart little white anchovies known as boquerones, best enjoyed with potato chips. Or the Spanish cheesecake, made from the Casado family’s own recipe. Or, if it’s a special occasion, the lavish “Caviarlicious Experience,” where precious Cinco Jotas ham is served with Golden Imperial Kaluga caviar for a cool $160.
“And of course we have the sangria, the sherries, the beer and vermut [vermouth] — all Spanish,” Casado says, adding that a pre-lunch vermut is a part of Spanish culture. Next, he’s looking to add dinner events on Thursdays and Fridays, upstairs in the “Dehesa Room,” named for the pastures where pata negra pigs graze.
“Everybody knows us for quality for sure, but especially for the iberico ham,” Casado says. The ham is available in several tiers of quality, the highest being the Cinco Jotas iberico jamon, which is hand-carved and packaged on site and made from acorn-fed pata negra pigs. Its delicately nutty flavour is well worth the long drive to the bottom of No. 5 Road.
“We know that we are in the middle of nowhere, but when you are here, you feel like you are in Spain,” he adds. “You may be travelling to Richmond, but we want you to feel like you are travelling to Spain.”
Jamoneria by ARC Iberico Imports
1020 – 12471 Horseshoe Way, Richmond
arcimports.ca | 778.998.5322 | @arc_iberico_imports
Bruno Restaurant at Versante Hotel
More and more people these days are travelling to Richmond, and not just through it. And when they do, the owners of the new Versante Hotel think they’ll want to stay at a chic boutique hotel inspired by the Opus model: bright, modern, luxurious, filled with art and home to an excellent fine-dining restaurant called Bruno, which opened last August, as well as a newly opened rooftop bar called Alaïa.
“It’s strategic,” explains William Lew, the chef who oversees all the property’s dining establishments. “It’s near the airport. The Richmond Night Market is one of the most popular things to do in summer. There is potential and we’re trying to tap into that potential.”
The Versante project also comprises an office tower and Club Versante, where eventually only members and hotel guests will be able to enjoy the luxe whisky lounge Cask and the soon-to-open seafood restaurant OO La Cha (now open since time of print). Think of the Vancouver or Terminal City Club, but located near the intersection of No. 3 and Bridgeport Roads.
As Lew says, “That’s the way they like to do business in China, that exclusiveness.”
Of course, it’s not just well-heeled Chinese visitors who frequent Bruno and Cask (which, for now, is open to the public, so take advantage while you can). Diners come from all over Metro Vancouver to sip the fine wines and rare single malts and to savour the elevated dishes they complement.
Lew brings serious fine-dining skill to the table, serving the kind of artfully tweezered dishes that almost disappeared during the pandemic. Portions are generous, best enjoyed family style, and often come lavished with caviar, edible flowers or truffles. There’s even a shellfish and caviar cart, and the brunch menu features what may be the last buck-a- shuck oysters in Metro Vancouver.
“We’re not really cooking with any culture in mind. We’re cooking with what’s around us in mind,” says Lew, who is passionate about sustainability and supporting local producers. He is, after all, the former executive chef for Ocean Wise, and studied animal biology at UBC before choosing a career in food. “I’m encouraging people to explore what’s in their backyard.”
He uses products from the ownership’s farm on Cortes Island as well as from producers throughout Richmond. “I forget how many suppliers, how many farmers, how many growers are in Richmond,” he says. “Even the flowers we use all season are from one of our cooks, who is also a passionate botanist.”
He’s excited to see the bright young talent behind Richmond’s stoves as a new generation of chefs takes over, and figures more and more restaurateurs will be looking to escape “crazy and expensive” Vancouver for more affordable new places to do business, such as Richmond, Burnaby and points east.
Most of all, though, he knows Richmond and the people who live here. “I’m lucky enough to come from this community,” he says. “When I was working downtown, I would go to Richmond to eat. There’s so much diversity. Now I’m finding I don’t need to go downtown anymore.”
Bruno at Versante Hotel
8499 Bridgeport Rd., Richmond
clubversante.com/bruno | 604.242.2750 | @bruno.yvr
