Of all the restaurant awards that are out there, there is only one that I am personally interested in. I have great respect for the awards that the Chinese Restaurant Awards (the CRA) give out, particularly the awards known as the “Critics Choice”. I particularly like this award because this is awarded by a panel of the best food experts in Vancouver and they identify the best of Chinese DISHES of the year, as opposed to best Chinese restaurant.
Suanne and I had a great time with the last year’s CRA 2010 Critics Choice Award list. We went to try most of the winning dishes over the course of a few months. We summarized all of the 2010 award winning signature dishes in this blog post. You really got to check that link out … it is a massive 50 dishes all together!
So we were excited … waiting for the announcement of this years winner.
I don’t know how to say this better … when I saw the list, I was taken aback by all the changes and I felt that it was a bit of a step backwards.
| CRA 2010 | CRA 2011 |
| 50 dishes awarded: – 25 Gold award – 25 Silver award |
25 dishes awarded: – 9 Gold with Distinction award – 16 Gold award |
| 8 restaurants with 2 awards | 2 restaurants with 3 awards 5 restaurants with 2 awards |
| Separate award for Cantonese Noodles and Northern Noodles | Single category for Noodles |
| Hot Pot category | Eliminated: Hot Pot |
| Vegetable category | Renamed: Vegetarian |
| Clams, Oyster and Scallop category | Renamed: Scallop |
| New category: Rice | |
| New category: Lobster |
In 2010 there were 50 dishes awarded gold or silver in a 25 categories. For this year, there were only 25 awards given – the number of dishes were halved. I was really looking forward to an equally long list of 50 dishes last year so that I have more to try. LOL!
I somewhat understand too that it is no joke identifying 50 dishes year in, year out. I can imagine the number of dishes that had to be tasted just to get down to the final 25 dishes.
I still wish that there are 50 dishes! What I find hard to understand is that new award called the “Gold with Distinction” award. These are awards given for the dishes that won the same award last year. Does it send a message that the Chinese restaurants had not progressed the past year by not being able introduce new signature dishes in these nine categories? So in effect, we do not really have 25 new dishes, we only have 16 new ones. Sigh … from 50 new signature dishes to 16 new signature dishes this year.
Dim Sum, Prawn, Squab
Geoduck, Congee, Rice
Beef, Appetizer
Crab, Chicken
Dessert/Pastry, Lamb
Lobster, Pork
Scallop, Duck
For the first time, two restaurants swept three awards. Both of these restaurants, Landmark and Sea Harbour also … won awards last year. It is not surprising to note that most of these multiple award winners are big time restaurants except for Alvin Garden and Good Choice.
| CRA 2010 | CRA 2011 |
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I do find that there are more big-time restaurants winning more award this year compared to 2010. The smaller and one-outlet restaurants that won award this year seems lesser.
Richmond dominated with the most award winning dishes with 12 out of 25 dishes. Vancouver came second with 9 winners and Burnaby has 2. Two of the dishes were won by restaurants with multiple locations.
So yeah … the long and short of it is that there is less winning dishes this year. Despite that, there are still quite a bit to discover and you can bet that Suanne and I will try to taste each and every of the dishes on the list! Anyone want to join us in our journey?
So here you go … the CRA 2011 Critics Choice list.
I don’t want to take anything away from the Chinese Restaurant Award team. I think they did a tremendous job and I know many of the judges had given a lot of their personal time meeting and eating (too much eating can be a chore!). It is not just that it’s not an easy task but at times it is thankless too because I know not everyone will agree with the winning list. Good job, CRA!
We had visited many of these restaurants before. So if you want to read our posts, please click on the Picture or the restaurant name and it will bring you to the post on chowtimes.
Gold With Distinction Award
| Dish | Restaurant | |
| Soup Pork Stomach and Gingko Long-Boiled Soup |
Bamboo Groove 6920 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.278.9585 |
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| Appetizer Five-Spiced Pork Heart |
Alvin Garden 4850 Imperial St. Burnaby (map) 604.437.0828 |
|
| Chinese Barbeque BBQ Pork |
BBQ Master 4651 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.272.6568 |
 |
| Squab Fried Squab |
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant 3711 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.232.0816 |
|
| Alaska King Crab Alaska King Crab 3 Ways |
Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant 4920 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.273.8208 |
 |
| Prawn Pan Fried Prawns with Soy |
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant 3711 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.232.0816 |
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Gold With Distinction Award
| Category | Restaurant | |
| Most Innovative Dungeneness Crab with Wild Rice | Red Star Seafood Restaurant 8298 Granville Street Vancouver (map) 604.261.8389 |
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| Northern & Shanghainese Dim Sum Peaceful Beef Rolls |
Peaceful Restaurant 532 West Broadway Vancouver (map) 604.879.9878 |
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| Cantonese Dim Sum Steamed Bun Stuffed with Preserved Salty Egg Yolk | Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant 3711 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.232.0816 |
|
| Rice Stir Fried Glutinous Rice |
Landmark Hot Pot House 4023 Cambie Street Vancouver (map) 604.872.2868 |
|
| Noodles Beef Ball & Cuttlefish Ball with Noodle in Soup |
Luda Southern Dishes 2683 East Hasting Street Vancouver (map) 604.255.3188 |
 |
| Congee Cross Bridge’ Style Seafood Noodle |
Landmark Hot Pot House 4023 Cambie Street Vancouver (map) 604.872.2868 |
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| Beef Beef with Pickled Green Chili |
Alvin Garden 4850 Imperial St. Burnaby (map) 604.437.0828 |
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| Lamb Lamb Rack in Chinese Wine Sauce |
Rainflower Seafood Restaurant 3600 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.278.7288 |
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| Pork Shiang’s Specialty Layer Pork |
Shiang Garden Chinese Restaurant 4540 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.273.8858 |
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| Chicken The Jade Smoked Grandpa’s Chicken |
Jade Seafood Restaurant 8511 Alexandra Road Richmond (map) 604.249.0082 |
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| Duck Soy Duck (Chiu Chow Style) |
Good Choice Restaurant 6007 Fraser Street Vancouver (map) 604.325.9788 |
 |
| Lobster Lobster in Premium Soy Sauce |
Shiang Garden Chinese Restaurant 4540 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.273.8858 |
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| Dungeness Crab Golden Dungeness Crab |
Jade Seafood Restaurant 8511 Alexandra Road Richmond (map) 604.249.0082 |
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| Geoduck Geoduck Hot Pot |
Landmark Hot Pot House 4023 Cambie Street Vancouver (map) 604.872.2868 |
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| Fish Steamed Tilapia with Egg |
Bing Sheng Restaurant 1800 Renfrew Street Vancouver (map) 604.215.1800 |
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| Scallop Stir Fried Scallops with Celery, Ginger and XO Sauce |
Good Choice Restaurant 6007 Fraser Street Vancouver (map) 604.325.9788 |
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| Food Court Dish Claypot Chicken & Sausage Rice |
James Snack Sandpot Rice, Empire Centre 1160 – 4540 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.716.1328 |
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| Vegetarian Dish Sauteed Buddha Feast |
Dynasty Seafood Restaurant 108-777 West Broadway Vancouver (map) 604.876.8388 |
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| Dessert/Pastry Baked Durian Pastry |
Rainflower Seafood Restaurant 3600 No 3 Road Richmond (map) 604.278.7288 |
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BBQ Master won for its duck? Their roast pork and char siu is the best in Richmond (and probably in BC), but their duck is mediocre.
Sun Sui Wah, Sea Harbour, and Jade winning /any/ award, let alone multiples of each, is laughable at best. The CRA’s are a joke.
They won for BBQ Pork. (Typo).
Hi fmed, thanks for correction. I had amended the post.
What? BBQ Master won for BBQ Pork? Suanne told me they won for BBQ Duck … and we actually went to BBQ Master specifically for BBQ Duck last week. LOL! Good thing we also ordered the BBQ Pork. Whew! 🙂 Ben
Well I had to double check since I am currently pre-caffeinated! Yep it is pork. Here is the Flickr stream of all the dishes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cra2011/sets/72157625796252048/
Hi fmed: Would it be OK if I ask you to help me grab the embedded codes for the Flickr stream? If it is OK with the CRA, I would love to incorporate the photostream on the post and it will also be interesting for everyone to see what the dishes look like. Ben
Sure thing Ben. Let me go through the official channels.
Hi fmed, thanks for posting the flickr stream of the winning dishes. I may not be able to try most of them due to financial constraint but at least I enjoy the food porn. Yum!
Hi Crispy: I know … some of the dishes are expensive ones (king crab, lobster, geoduck). It’s gonna blow a hole in my budget. Wish there are more categories next year for “the masses”. I cringed when I saw so many expensive restaurants winning so many dishes. 🙁 Ben
Wonder how much for the Geoduck hot pot at Landmark Hotpot House? I see the picture of it on Flickr, but I can’t find the Landmark menu online.
Hi WS: When we went to Landmark for their hot pot congee with fish tofu, it was not cheap ($25.50). I can just imagine that Geoduck Hot Pot would cost more … much more. Landmark is not a cheap place. Ben
Hmmm … I was thinking that perhaps someone could start up a rival CRA called the CCRA (that is Cheap Chinese Restaurant Awards) where the winning restaurant must have 50% of their menu all under $10. Something like that! LOL!
Great reporting, Ben as always. In reply to akwok, I’ve been to both Koon Bo and Sea Harbour and would have to respectfully disagree with your assessments.
When the spotted prawns were in season, we walked into Sea Harbour, no reservations, with a table for 10 adults and 5 kids. We wanted seafood, fish, Peking Duck, etc. to impress our out-of-towners (including myself). The server suggested to us the Pan Fried Shrimp in Soy Sauce for our seafood selection. I had no preconceptions or had any idea that it was in the running for best Prawn dish otherwise I may have had high expectations, but to this day, I will swear on my first dog’s grave, that was the best shrimp I’ve ever eaten! The soy sauce was on the sweet side, but it did not overpower the shrimp. In one word, that dish was executed perfectly. I couldn’t stop licking my fingers. Their Peking Duck was grand as well, skin was crispy with a good skin/fat ratio.
On another evening, we brought my brother-in-law into Sea Harbour. He’s originally from Hong Kong and knows his food! We ordered the Squab and a thinly-sliced beef dish which names escapes me. The squab was delicious and we could see why it won some awards. Compared to Koon Bo, I thought the skin was crispier at Sea Harbour while the bird was fatter at Koon Bo. But the highlight of the night was the beef dish. It is made similarly to the Taiwanese beef and served cold, sliced very thin. One bite of that beef and I thought I was eating USDA Prime steak! I might have been. I have Taiwanese friends who make that dish for me and most of the time you taste the Five spice powder or soy sauce. The way Sea Harbour made it, you taste unadulterated beef. The beef flavor was very strong in a good sense. Again, it felt like I was eating Prime Rib, but Chinese style. My brother-in-law commented that Sea Harbour would be competitive with some of the top restaurants in HK.
Yes, places like Sea Harbour, Jade, and to some extent Sun Sui Wah may seem pretentious, especially with the clientele they seem to attract, but we have never gotten a bad meal from Sea Harbour and feel the price is somewhat justified based on the ingredients and execution from the kitchen.
(Disclosure: I am one of the judges). Awesome analysis Ben. The change total number of awards given was a big and long discussion for sure. The CRAA will no doubt make changes next year which may see the number of categories change again. Stay tuned!
Hi Ben,
I noticed the award certificate in Luda and had their award winning noodle soup dish a few days ago. Not bad but not spectacular, will have to try the other ones. Let me know if you are doing any trials.
Hi Oliver: Awesome. I’ll send you an email about the plans! Ben
Hi Ben,
We just came back from Bing Sheng and had their Tilapia with egg. The dish was $20 ($19.99 or something like that). They are selling it by the dish rather than by the pound as with other more expensive seafood. We enjoyed it. In talking to the staff, they said the tough part is the timing so that both the fish and the egg got done in the same time without any one of the two being too well done.
There were a few bones but the fish was generally free of bones.
I also find it interesting that they said that they did not know they were judged by CRA and that all the judges except one were non-Chinese. The restaurant only received a letter later that they were awarded the prize.
To clarify…Nine of the twelve judges are Chinese (five of them are chefs or former chefs). And the judging is done discretely and in secrecy…so not surprising that they didn’t know.
BTW – Here is the chef at Bing Sheng receiving the award at the ceremonies http://www.flickr.com/photos/cra2011/5369065755/in/photostream/#/photos/cra2011/5369065755/in/photostream/lightbox/
Hi fmed: Thanks. It is good to see for once the actual people behind the dishes. For too long Chinese chef are hidden behind in the kitchen and not many receive such public acknowledgement for their good work. These little nuggets of info from you really put a different dimension to the post. Ben
Hi Oliver: You are fast! $20 is not bad. It’s a dish I would order again and again (except to ask for more jhup because it is so good). Ben
Awesome analysis! 🙂
Yeah, I must say so myself too. Sometimes I am just stunned with myself. LOL!
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