Over a third of Vancouver’s population is East Asian and as a result the vast majority of restaurants in the city are Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean cuisine. It’s basically heaven for anyone who loves their noodles/rice/sushi and of course like Q and I… dumplings!
We’re so serious about our dim sum that we went on a dumpling fast for about 3 months before coming to Vancouver, so we could appreciate them even more. Yes, really. This is the lengths food lovers will go to for the ultimate experience people!
So after much research Q suggested a dumpling house called Dinesty. It was a bit of a trek from our apartment but we figured that good dumplings are worth the distance. We arrived at a beautiful, bustling restaurant with a glass walled kitchen which allowed you to peer in and see the chefs assembling hundreds of little morsels. Sat down with a hot cup of green tea I couldn’t wait for our food to arrive!
Dinesty served us some of the best shumai we’ve ever tasted. Also the top of the pork buns had been crisped which I’ve never experienced before but it added a lovely new texture atop the soft dough.
Our interested veered off piste a little as the rest of the menu looked so good that we couldn’t resist ordering a few larger dishes as well.
The pork in ‘brown sauce’ came with a huge basket of steamed buns shaped like shells (adorable!) which you could open up and fill with the meat. Probably my favourite item on the table for how fun it was to assemble and how utterly delicious the pork was.
A lot of food right? When it came to paying we found our feast had been a very reasonable price. We were told before coming to Vancouver that it was a very expensive city, but so far we haven’t found that to be that case. This meal came to the equivalent of £35, which is identical to what it would have been at home.
Fuelled, once again, we decided it was time to leave the city and begin exploring the countryside around us which had been calling to me from the moment we landed.
Wow?! A short drive up the road and stopping off at nowhere in particular we found ourselves on the most beautiful secluded beach fringed with fir trees and mountains.
I don’t think I’ve been to a location more varied: in 30 minutes you can go from being in the beating heart of a major metropolis to being completely alone in the wild.
Residents in Vancouver and British Columbia are so very, very lucky to have all of this! I keep finding myself muttering in disbelief: “People live here!”