DIm Sum Express

Location : Howe Street, North of Cordova

Neil used to work for a very successful computer game manufacturer here in Vancouver, in fact it became the original reason of us emigrating and for a while, every Friday, his team would go to a restaurant for dim sum. I sometimes walk past the restaurant they frequented, always brimming with people at lunchtimes and admire how diverse the experience seems to be. Large groups of families who look like they've been picked up and transported here from China by an over sized cartoon hand. People dining alone, just there to enjoy the food (or maybe stood up, who knows what really happens)? and groups of co-workers relishing their hour away from their daily grind. The servers shout and run around like ants, only narrowly avoiding bumping into each other, there is steam in the air from the many bamboo steamers being held aloft and whisked around and a deafening background noise of chatter and plates clinking. I've never actually eaten in here, but Neil considers himself somewhat of a dim sum connoisseur so he was very excited about our next cart, dim sum express. (Did you know it's called Yum Cha in Australia - I just found out)?

Serving the same area as the Burrito cart, but around the corner, conveniently situated opposite 3 huge hotels, this cart has the cutest little bamboo steamers all lined up in the serving area, only big enough to hold one or two pieces, so everything is freshly steamed there and then. I chose the dim sum selection (yes, I know dim sum has carbs, - sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do for research), and Neil had the chow mein with barbecued pork buns.

The dim sum selection were shrimp, pork pot stickers and pork and one of those amazing steamed white buns with the barbecued pork inside. While Neil puffed out his chest and exclaimed "Oh yes, I know all these very well", I finally got my spicy sauce and little sachet of soy sauce. Being somewhat full from the Burrito, I only managed one of each of the dumplings and only picked at the meat from the barbecued bun. They were exactly how you would imagine. Chewy, slightly slimy dough and sweet and savoury fillings. The barbecued bun was a revelation for me. The bun itself so fluffy and light and the filling so sweet, Neil nodded his head in agreement when I exclaimed how much I liked it and told me he always used to look forward to these very much.

Neil's chow mein had a meaty, satisfying mouth feel and a surprising kick of heat after the first almost bland taste. If I allowed myself to eat carbs I think I would make the trip to this cart several times a week, the same way I used to scout around the city scoping out the best Beef Yaki Soba I could find. Good stuff.

Did I mention the 3 huge hotels? While we were there we noticed TV cameras everywhere. Naively thinking maybe Damon Albarn of Gorillaz was staying at one of the hotels, (they played Vancouver that evening - we went to see them), it turns out the BC Premier, Gordon Campbell was there, he of HST shame and had tendered his resignation the night before. I wonder whether he tried the dim sum?