Vancouverites are very happy to read the lead story of a Sunday New York Times Travel Section, titled “Vancouver’s Many Flavors Find a Home on the Menu.”
The newspaper reported on a street in downtown (Denman) where you will find a global buffet: Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Spanish, African, Italian, Mexican, Pacific Northwest. (Sadly, no sign of a Filipino restaurant despite the fact that the Philippine community is the second fastest growing ethnic group in the province.)
Denman Street is one of the many enclaves that reflect the cultural breath of this once sleepy downtown that is now alive with a vast culinary landscape.
Vancouver is among the most ethnically diverse cities in Canada, if not North America. Its talented chefs draw a multicultural palette of cuisines.
Speaking of different cuisines, what can be more iconic than the city’s Chinatown?
Hip new restaurants, minimalist coffee shops and urban-type condos have injected a youthful vigour into the district.
All told, Vancouver’s Chinatown is an exciting place to visit, with lots of surprises, where east meets west, where urban chic meets diversity. This is the place where you can eat German sausages then get lap Chung (Chinese sausage), order siopao (barbecued meat bun) then take home French croissants and pandesal, feast on gluten-free fried chicken, and then buy herbs and spices from vendors.
In North America, the Chinatown in British Columbia’s capital city of Victoria is the oldest, and Vancouver’s Chinatown is known to be the most distinctive.
A long time ago, Chinatowns were occupied solely by peasant Chinese immigrants. These newcomers stayed within the confines of Chinatowns because they were not allowed to live anywhere else, nor could they afford to. Today, Chinatowns are still bustling with Chinese immigrants but most of them are wealthy entrepreneurs owning their own businesses and buildings.
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