Richmond.
It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the Vancouver metropolitan area. A perfectly flat island on the flight path to the airport, it’s frequently derided as not worthy of a visit. In short, it can’t get no respect.
Richmond is at least 60% Asian and the Golden Village feels closer to 100%. Since we moved to Vancouver, Wen and I have assumed that the area must be home to some great Asian food: the question has always been where to go. Thankfully, we finally got a few recommendations so today we set off for Dinesty.
Nuzzled next to a Starbucks and a plus-sized store in an anonymous strip mall, Dinesty captured everything about Richmond. The food was world class; the interior was beautiful and I can’t even remember what it looked like outside.
Curiously, the dining crew consisted of a large number of families where the kids sat playing with their iPads/iPhones/iDevice while the parents ate. Kind of surreal – especially when it was a family of five with three kids who each had matching white earbuds.
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Some people never visit Richmond because it appears to be a series of charmless strip malls abutting the Sky Train:
But it’s worth exploring as you’ll find countless interesting things. Hand-made Japanese chocolate. Countless arcades and billiards halls where you can see the latest crazy videogames on offer and watch legions of Asian-Canadian boys try to frag one another at Call of Duty while sitting in the timeless half darkness. The arcades tend to be off the strip; lurking behind them are the dojos and mixed martial arts academies.
If you walk into a random Japanese store (interestingly, the stores here are a mix of Japanese, Korean and Chinese; it’s as if once you leave “Asia”, your national status is replaced by a continental one), you might find those incredible tiny canned drinks that are normally only found in the land of the rising sun (in the following photo, the cans are abnormally small; Wendy is not suffering from gigantism):
Interspersed are a motley collection of random stores. A hobby shop where awkward teens obviously fantasize about the pretty girl who works the cash; a pet store that feels more like visiting the Vancouver Aquarium – except that you can bring home the exhibits – and numerous computer superstores where the emphasis is on making your own computer rather than buying a pre-made one.
In addition, the malls are a study in the nuances between Asian and Caucasian culture.
The jewellery stores have a lot more jade and gold; a lot less silver. Everywhere the signage is about “success”, “executive”, “prestigious” and “exclusive”. There are a remarkable number of air diffusers and massage stores for sale. If you’re looking for dried foods, these malls are your place. There are countless cell phone stores, but none of them are ones you have seen before:
Every single restaurant has a glass-walled kitchen so you can watch the staff cook:
And the stores sell every form of cute character imaginable:
It’s fascinating and unique place: a bit of Asia built using the latest technology and North American building codes. Bizarrely clean, with not a speck of garbage or graffiti anywhere to be seen. And well worth a visit.