Walking Vancouver’s Chinatown With A Pro

There are some North American cities where a visit to Chinatown is a must: San Francisco, New York (actually prefer Flushing to Manhattan’s) and of course, Chicago. But when in Vancouver, a visit to Chinatown is a must. The Chinese population in the city is about 600,000 (125,000 of which are Canadian born).  One of the best ways to take everything in is to take a tour with Bob Sung.

Bob’s family was in the produce business for 80 years, so he knows the area like the back of his hand. His “Wok Around Chinatown” tour includes a dim sum lunch, lots of snacking, and visits to a Taoist Temple, a bunch of funky grocery stores, cookware shops and fish markets, plus a private tea ceremony in a well-appointed shop (although beware of the hard sell for teapots and other tea paraphernalia afterward). Bob peppers his talk with cultural notes and ties in the history of the area with culinary sidebars. The tours begin in the tranquil Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, every piece of which was literally transported from China to Vancouver. The tour‚  runs approximately four hours and includes a dim sum lunch. Here are some highlights from our tour:

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens 
578 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
604-662-3207 
sunyatsen@telus.net 
www.vancouverchinesegarden.com

A Wok Around Chinatown
Bob Sung
604-218-8200 
bobsung@telus.net 
www.awokaround.com

Top 5 Dim Sum Restaurants in Vancouver
Floata Seafood Restaurant — www.floata.com
Hon’s Wun-Tun House — www.hons.ca
Imperial — www.imperialrest.com
Sun Sui Wah — www.sunsuiwah.com
Szechuan Chongqing Seafood — www.szechuanchongqing.com