It was a foodies delight on Wednesday, as the Lower Mainlands top Chinese restaurant chefs gathered at River Rock Casino Resort to celebrate culinary excellence.
Hosted by Breakfast TVs Dawn Chubai and Omni TVs Catherine Chan, Wednesdays fourth-annual Chinese Restaurant Awards were the culmination of thousands of votes from restaurant-goers, and hours of hard work by chefs, organizers and a panel of eight professional food critics.
The road to success has not always been straight, but after seeing how the Chinese restaurants, tourism industry, and diners have benefited from the (awards) programs makes all the hard work worthwhile, said Craig Stowe, founding director of the restaurant awards.
New for the 2012 awards was a Signature Dish Dining Festival, which launched in November of 2011 and encourages members of the public to visit 18 restaurants in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby. The festival drew more than 8,000 people and generated $240,000 in revenues.
This years participating chefs were asked to design menus that featured B.C. seafood, Alberta beef and pork, and Amoy sauces.
More than 12,500 diners voted online and selected Richmonds Jade Seafood Restaurant as the best festival restaurant overall.
Vancouvers winners were:
Best of Signature Dish
Best Alberta beef dish: Stewed Alberta Ox-tail with red wineGolden Swan Seafood Restaurant.
Gold Awards with Distinction
Sauteed Buddhas FeastDynasty Seafood Restaurant
Stir-fried Glutinous Rice Landmark Hotpot House
Diners Choice Awards
Best Fine Dining Kirin Restaurants
Best Hot Pot Restaurant Fatty Cow Seafood Hot Pot
Best Congee and Noodle Restaurant Congee Noodle House
Best Bakery Maxims
New Award-winning dishes
Deep Fried Pork in Red Fermented Sauce Kalvins Restaurant Ltd.
Dry Fried Curry Dungeness Crab James on Hastings Chinese Restaurant
Flash Wok Fried BC Geoduck Landmark Hotpot House
Steamed Ginger Milk Landmark Hotpot House
Tea Smoked Duck Landmark Hotpot House
by Martin van den Hemel
