Does the snowy weather just make you want to cuddle up and sit around the fireplace all day? Us Chinese have another way to fight the cold weather -- hotpot. Recently, I was invited to check out one of the a la carte hotpot places called Liuyishou Hotpot. It's a worldwide chain, with a few locations in the Lower Mainland in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby.
Once in awhile we organize an "in-law dinner" where my parents and Mr.'s parents can hang out and catch up. They always look to me for picking a unique place to go. No pressure. Well, this time around, Toe Dam in Coquitlam.
In Richmond, you will never run out of ideas for Chinese food: seafood restaurant, Hong Kong cafe, noodle house, Shanghainese, etc. There are many long-standing restaurants, but new ones also pop up all over the city. Recently, a soup house was opened on Alexandra Road, specialized in hearty soups without the use of MSG. I took the soup expert, aka Mama Lam, along with Papa Lam and Mr., to give them a try.
Often referred to as the best soup place in town, The Soup Meister is a local business that produces soups, stocks and sauces. Located at the Lonsdale Quay, it claims to use only freshest ingredients available in all its products with no preservatives. The retail outlet sells only a few varieties of “soup of the day”, but most of their business appears to be in frozen goods. The layout of the business is diner-like, with the kitchen/prep area in plain-sight.
With two locations in the city, the Legendary Noodle House serves up big dishes of tasty Northern Chinese style hand-made noodles. We visited the Denman store; and as with all shops on Denman, it was a little crowded. The decorations are fitting of the place, maybe they are trying a little too hard on the “Chineseness” of it, but I could see its appeal to the general public. The kitchen is a semi-open style, which is great because you get to see the chef prepare your noodles made-to-order. It’s quite an art form; it takes a lot of pulling, slamming, and kneading to produce a fine firmness (think al dente pasta but better). Overall it reminded me of the street-side noodle joints in Tianjin.
VanFoodies.com 
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