Chef Tony - Richmond, BC

I thought that Chef Tony was an unlikely name for a dim sum restaurant, but decided to take a chance anyway.  Dim sum on the weekend in Richmond, BC is popular and since we didn't book ahead, as is recommended, we arrived just before opening and joined the small line at the door in order to get a table.  It was a good thing too, because it filled up quickly. 

Vancouver dim sum is not served on carts, it is ordered.  The interesting part of dim sum this day, which I haven't experienced before, was that since everyone sat down at the same time and ordered at the same time, the kitchen grouped and prepared all the food together in a certain order and we watched all of it come out in that order and then we could tell which ones were more popular.  Also because of this, it was not a fast meal.

I had read that Chef Tony was shiny and it certainly was.  I was picturing mirrors, but it was more about the very white walls with the very large chandeliers.

First up, dumplings.  Shrimp dumplings not for me and bbq pork buns which are one of my favorites and are always soft on the outside and full of bbq pork on the inside.

Pork spare ribs to mix it up a little bit.  They didn't look like much, but were really tasty and tender.

I was really intrigued by the bitter melon noodle with chicken.  I'm not a fan of bitter melon, but I've not seen anything like this on a menu before, so I decided to give it a try and it was really fabulous and not bitter at all with a tender chicken filling.  It was slippery and hard to pick up with chop sticks, but they did cut it up for other tables, which would probably make it easier to eat.

A little veg, some gai lan to go with everything else.  

And some noodles.  This was the last to come out and took a long time, and I was starting to think it was a mistake, however the noodles were fabulous when we finally did get them.  They came in a hot and sizzling pan with noodles and lots of garlic and ginger on the bottom to mix in.