Did you know Richmond, British Columbia is home to the largest Chinese community outside of China? That means this cool suburb of Vancouver is home to some of the best Chinese food in North America — making it a pretty good spot for a festival solely focused on dumplings to take place.

And that’s exactly what’s happening on March 2nd from 6 to 10pm as the Asian Arts & Culture Society hosts the RBC Dumpling Tasting Soirée in Richmond in partnership with Tourism Richmond.

It’s the first time this particular festival makes its way to Richmond — which is fitting since 74% of Richmond’s population is ethnically Chinese. After seeing great success with the first two BC Dumpling Festivals in Coquitlam in 2022 and 2023, the event is now headed to Richmond to showcase an enhanced and unique sampling of dumplings from across a variety of cultures.

This Soiree is not just a celebration of food, but a celebration of community and a platform where people from diverse backgrounds come together to share their love for these delectable pockets of joy.

"Following the incredible success of the BC Dumpling Festival at Town Centre Park in Coquitlam for the past few summers, Tourism Richmond is very excited to partner with the Asian Arts & Culture Society to bring this unique and delicious night out to Richmond for the first time this March,” says Nancy Small, CEO of Tourism Richmond.

Whether you're a seasoned dumpling connoisseur or trying new flavors for the first time, this event aims to offer something for everyone. “Behind every dish lies a story of tradition, innovation, and the universal language of food that brings us all together. What better place to do that than in Richmond, which is a vibrant hub of authentic Asian culinary and cultural experiences,” says Small.

The evening will include an assortment of dumpling food vendors, alcohol pairings, live entertainment, and various auctions with partial proceeds going to the Richmond Hospital Foundation.

Dumplings from locally loved spots like Banh Mi Tres Bos, Mr. Siopao, Momo Joy, Teppan-Yaro, That Momo Spot, and more will be featured. Think samplings that include Filipino steamed buns, dumplings with XO sauce, Himalayan-style dumplings, plant-based dumplings, Japanese pork gyoza, and even Korean dumplings.

Additionally, each vendor will be competing in a dumpling tasting competition where judges and guests will vote for best taste, best presentation, most unique, judges’ choice and best overall dumpling.

Tickets for the Richmond British Columbia Dumpling Soiree can be purchased on EventBrite.

Can’t make it to the festival? Not a problem! You can still get your dumpling fix anytime in Richmond, BC by crawling your way through its Dumpling Trail. A curated list of 12 spots that serve some of the best dumplings on the west side of the Pacific. No matter what kind of dumpling does it for you, from steamed to boiled to fried, these babies are filled with so many delicious fillings. With more than 400 Asian restaurants in the city, this list helps narrow things down — at least if you’re craving dumplings.

The bungled sale of a $2.89 million Richmond, B.C., home under a Chinese-language contract was the subject of a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision, with the court ruling the one-page handwritten document outlining the deal is legally binding.

Justice Steven Wilson's Monday ruling brings an apparent end to a nearly seven-year legal tango between two acquaintances who first met in dance class — and then several more times in a courtroom.

Wilson's decision found plaintiff and would-be seller Hong Yang and her husband were entitled to damages after buyer Xue Li failed to pay an $800,000 deposit instalment agreed upon in what the parties called a "Chinese contract."

While another justice refused to decide the case on a summary basis in 2022, Monday's ruling finds that despite different translations, customs and interpretations, Chinese-language contracts are enforceable in British Columbia — in this case, to the tune of nearly half a million dollars.

"I find that the Chinese contract was a valid and binding contract, and that the plaintiffs were ready, willing and able to complete at the closing date," Wilson wrote.

"The plaintiffs were entitled to accept the defendant's breach, which they did, and are entitled to damages."

Buyer lived in the home for nearly 1 year

The ill-fated deal began in 2017, when Yang asked Li for help finding a Realtor to sell the large detached home at 3311 Blundell Rd., and Li said she herself was interested in buying it, according to court documents.

The two parties signed what Wilson calls a "Chinese contract" confirming the terms of the sale on May 4, 2017, and Li and her family moved into the home shortly after.

The one-page document, written entirely in Chinese characters, listed the purchase price at $2.89 million, with a $100,000 deposit upon purchase, $100,000 due on July 10, and $800,000 due by Dec. 30, according to a translation accepted by the court.

The remaining $1.89 million was to be paid after another property Li owned on West 20th Avenue in Vancouver had sold, the ruling says.

Li made both of the first two deposits before her Vancouver property sold in November, but the third $800,000 instalment never came to Yang or her husband, the ruling says.

For five months, until April 2018, Li claimed she had been trying and failing to get approved for a mortgage to cover the difference — even as she obtained mortgages for, and purchased, two other properties in the same period.

"Ms. Li did not provide evidence of any mortgage applications regarding the Blundell [Road] property, and therefore no evidence that she was unsuccessful in obtaining a mortgage," wrote Wilson.

Li and her family moved out of the home on April 25, 13 days after she had made a $2.7 million offer on another property for which she had obtained a mortgage, according to the ruling.

Uncertainties don't void deal: judge

In response to Yang's lawsuit for damages, Li claimed the Chinese contract was not binding or enforceable because it was uncertain, and demanded the $200,000 she had paid be returned.

Li argued that, while unwritten in the Chinese contract, the agreement hinged on her receiving financing for the home in the form of a mortgage.

However Wilson wrote that Li was well aware of the contract's nature, but evidence suggested she did not take the steps necessary to hold up her end of the deal. He also said the uncertainties she argued, including the closing date and interest costs, did not void the contract.

"While I accept that Ms. Li does not read or write English and that her ability to understand spoken English may be limited, I do not accept that she is as unsophisticated or naïve as she portrays," he said.

Yang and her husband eventually sold the Blundell Road home to another buyer in 2018 for approximately $2.4 million, about $400,000 less than what the contract said Li would pay.

After hearing testimony from both plaintiffs and the defendant, Wilson awarded Yang and her husband the difference between the two purchase prices — minus the $200,000 Li had already paid — plus interest, legal costs and around $3,000 in property fees.

We enjoy a New Year's feast--several of them, in fact--in Richmond, British Columbia, the most Asian city in North America.

Photos by Garrett Martin Travel Lists Canada

10 miles south of Vancouver you’ll find one of the greatest concentrations of excellent Asian restaurants in North America. Richmond, British Columbia, is part of the Vancouver metropolitan area, but it feels like you’re on the other side of the planet. About 75% of Richmond’s population has Asian roots, and less than a third of its citizens call English their first language. Don’t expect the quaint, touristy Chinatowns found in larger Canadian or American cities, though; Richmond is a modern city, with strip malls and office complexes full of businesses owned by and catering to the Asian community. Its vibrant, varied Asian culinary scene is only a SkyTrain ride away from Vancouver, making it a must-stop for anybody visiting Canada’s third-largest metro area.

We recently ate our way through Richmond during the Lunar New Year weekend, feasting at dumpling houses, tea rooms, and barbecues, and sampling the city’s unique culinary culture. Here’s the best of what we experienced, in order of when we ate there.

HK BBQ Master

Our first stop was lunch at HK BBQ Master, and I can’t imagine a better kickoff to our tour. When Anson Leung made the journey from Hong Kong to British Columbia with his parents in the early ‘90s, he was still waiting to be born. A few years later his dad started a barbecue restaurant in a small space inside the covered parking lot of a big box superstore, where he specialized in cooking meat in the style of his native Hong Kong; it became one of the best and most popular restaurants in town. Leung took over for his father in the mid ‘10s, and today goes through between 150 and 200 ducks and hundreds of pounds of pork and chicken a day. HK BBQ Master serves up succulent cuts of pork and chicken, lightly spiced and sauced, and roasted or barbecued, with sides of rice and broccoli florets. The small dining room can hold a dozen or so parties, but it truly thrives as a takeout spot, at least based on the line that stretched from the pickup window out of the parking deck and snaked around the next block. The name isn’t overselling the place; Leung truly is a master of Hong Kong barbecue.

Bamboo Grove

Two of our meals came as part of Alexandra Gill’s Dine Like a Critic tour. Gill, a former food critic for the national Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, has been covering Vancouver’s food scene for two decades, and her tour takes guests to both the city’s best-known restaurants and some of its hidden gems. In Richmond she first welcomed us to Bamboo Grove, which opened in 1963, making it the oldest Chinese restaurant in town. Their recent Lunar New Year dinner was a multi-course feast full of seafood, lamb and beef, with at least two courses ranking among the very best food I ate in Richmond. First up was a heavenly pork stomach and white pepper soup that didn’t just taste delicious but also left a warm, hazy, deeply comforting feeling inside me. I could’ve had two or three bowls of that soup. Later on we had steaming lamb chop lollipops that effortlessly came off the bone; it was Super Bowl weekend, so football was on my mind, and all I could think about was how these would absolutely kill as game day snacks. Forget the chicken wings and get yourself some of these lamb chop lollipops, if you’re anywhere near Richmond. Other top-notch offerings included the Szechuan beef, which slightly numbed the tongue; the Alaskan king crab; and the fried abalone in oyster shell. Bamboo Grove also brought me my first encounter with geoduck, which is a large clam and not a Pokémon; it’s actually pronounced “gooey duck,” and it’s traditionally eaten at the Lunar New Year to ensure good luck and prosperity in the coming year. Just as we eat black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day in the South, Asian communities eat geoduck on the Lunar New Year. Bamboo Grove served it with egg, and although I can’t claim to be a fan of its taste or texture, I can at least say that I’ve tried it. Bamboo Grove’s history is almost as interesting as its cuisine; its menu and focus has changed several times over the decades, initially targeting Western tastes with something similar to American Chinese food, and then growing more authentic throughout the years as Richmond’s demographics changed. That’s the kind of information Gill shares with her guests, making Dine Like a Critic not just delicious but educational, too.

The Fish Man

Our second stop on Gill’s tour was The Fish Man, a seafood-forward Szechuan spot that was a little bit younger and hipper (but no less tasty) than Bamboo Grove. The Fish Man’s Lunar New Year menu started with more geoduck, but prepared in a different way than Bamboo Grove; tender slices of lightly seasoned geoduck were complemented with crushed nuts, which gave it a satisfying crunch. You can never have too much good luck. The Fish Man also introduced us to another Lunar New Year staple, the Four Joys Meatball—a pork ball that pays tribute to togetherness and community. We were fortunate to meet many of the poor creatures ready to have their lives voided for our sustenance at The Fish Man, including a typically large king crab who was not particularly excited about shuffling off this mortal coil. Too bad for him: he was quite tasty served up two different ways, steamed with garlic and then breaded and fried. Thanks for your sacrifice, my friend. Later on we enjoyed a hearty sour cabbage fish hotpot and finished it all up with another traditional Lunar New Year dish, tang yuan—sticky rice balls with a black sesame filling that gushed out when bitten into. Whereas Bamboo Grove was refined and classy, The Fish Man was bright and raucous, and the two contrasted each other perfectly.

Dinesty Dumpling House

Some might take it easy the day after overindulging with two multi-course dinners. Not us, though; we dove right back into it the next afternoon with lunch at Dinesty Dumpling House, where we dined upon a variety of soup dumplings, pot stickers, and rolls, and even some dishes that weren’t wrapped inside flour. The highlight was the steamed black truffle and pork soup dumpling; this bite-sized morsel was warm, hearty and flavorful, with a burst of broth that flooded the mouth. The pan fried pork buns were a spicier treat, whereas the pan fried Chinese green onion pancake reminded me of Siu To’s irresistible snacks from the neighboring province of Alberta. Among Dinesty’s sizable and helpful staff are two serving robots who might bring you your food, one of whom is apparently a robot cat; that has no impact upon the food or how good Dinesty is, but I felt it needed to be noted. Dinesty’s wonderful dumplings should be a mandatory part of any trip to Richmond.

Baan Lao

Our last meal in Richmond was the fanciest. Baan Lao, an upscale Thai restaurant in the historical fishing village of Steveston, offers a tasting menu with wine or cocktail pairings that combines inviting dishes with immaculate presentation. A trio of amuse-bouches featured a scoop of watermelon dusted with dried fish flakes, a water buffalo meatball resting upon a spoon-shaped slice of pineapple, and a carrot crown with roasted cashews and coconut flakes. An organic Thai chicken dumpling looked like a roosting chicken; the green dumpling bore an orange beak and small eyes as it sat above a latticework of dried straw inside a bowl. Courses were often just a bite or two, which was the exact right amount of food after our gluttony from the day before. Perhaps the most striking part of the menu was a phat thai that arrived inside a delicate net made up of fried egg. When cut into with a fork the net promptly burst open, mixing the fried egg with the rice and black tiger prawns within. Baan Lao’s intricate presentation is a crucial part of the meal, turning these mouthwatering delicacies into individual pieces of art. And hey, the wine’s great, too.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.