Xiang Yuan Dumplings

I’ve been all over Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby searching for good frozen dumplings and finally went online to see what others were sharing regarding their experience. Thanks so much to a random Google search and these Unilocal reviews that led me to drive out to Richmond from Vancouver to buy several bags of frozen dumplings to try at home.
The gentleman making the dumplings have been wrapping them up since 1946 and his honesty and integrity was close to none. I dragged my mom out with me to try to piece together some terrible mandarin since we speak cantonese. We ordered 4 bags of frozen dumplings to bring home and 1 plate to enjoy there at the food court. He strongly encouraged us to make it at home since it would be cheaper and to save our money!
Excellent veggie dumplings! Great fish dumplings! And looking forward to trying more. Love the thinner wrappers that he hand makes. A must try.

If I could, I would rate Xiang Yuan as 3 ½ stars.
We stopped by on a Saturday afternoon since I was in the mood for some dumplings. The food court that the restaurant is in is pretty small and dingy (above the T&T store in Richmond), but it did have some free parking in the upper parking lot. When we got to the front of the store, there was no one working. Finally, after a minute or two, the guy in the back cane out and took our order. We ended up getting two kinds of dumplings:
Steamed fish dumplings: these dumplings were pretty decent, and you get a lot for $ 6.50 (I think I counted 20 dumplings in our order). They give you some vinegar and some hot sauce to go with your dumplings.
Pan fried shrimp dumplings (around 15 of them for the same price). These were decent as well. If I had to pick between the two, I would go with these since I like the crispy bottom portions of the dumplings when they are pan fried.
Overall, for the price, this place is pretty good. If you are looking for more gourmet options, then I would head to Shanghai River (or Dinesty, which I found out has a new location in Aberdeen Centre).
P. S. brush up on your Mandarin, because I think that the owner only speaks this (definitely not English).

Not so hidden, yet hidden as much as there was no reviews of this place when searching on the Unilocal app when we were here. This place did not exist in the Unilocal universe, and coming with my partner, we looked at the place, tried to do some research on my phone, and looked again not too sure if we wanted to eat here, yet seeing a younger lady order a steamer full of them made me more curious as to this dumpling joint. Sometimes when you just go blindly now looking for exactly what your cravings are, you get pleasantly surprised, and this was definitely it, to the point I still think of the dumplings today.
Me and my partner walked up to this food court, left the place, went to Yaohan Centre, and came back and said, «let’s give it a shot» and then the question was how did we want it prepared, and what did we really want? The menu is limited, and barely in English with only the choices of boiled, fried, and steamed dumplings, and beside that, all in Chinese, frozen dumplings. There’s an old couple that works and runs this place, a husband a wife, and we were seeing the husband work the dough in front of our eyes, he was never paying attention to the outside world, just on the dough, and kneading it through a machine multiple times making sure any imperfections were gone! This is not the brightest of areas if anyone has been to this food court, and it makes you wonder about the old man’s eyesight, cause it looks like he is squinting when making each loving dumpling, you know that he is putting all his effort and skill to craft these things. The wife is in the back cooking and packaging the dumplings and this is how this business runs.
I let my dear go up and order, as she is the one fluent in Mandarin, and this couple does not speak a word of English (well maybe not a word. but English is definitely not their strong suit) so if your not good with the language, you may need to point out at the limited menu to order and get through it. We ordered a mix of dumplings: pork with napa and pork with chive, pan fried, cause that’s the way I roll, for $ 6.00… what. come again… ok I’m probably going to get like 6 or something for this price, whatever, if it ain’t good I’m not coming back. We waited at our table close to their stall, and after a good wait, cause they were really pan frying this thing in the back… we were called to get the food!
When my dear came back with the tray of food, I noticed that they actually put the dumplings on a real plate, yeah, throw and crack on floor real plate, none of that styrofoam that I’m used to! And this plate was filled with perfectly pan fried dumplings, each of them with some brown and gold crustiness, each of them perfectly seperated from eachother. These aren’t the massive big boys you would buy from your local T&T, or maybe from a restaurant around the corner, these were smaller, but just right, not overly scary in size. The wrapping was thin, as if you really looked close enough you can kind of see what is inside the dumpling. Taking a bite out of the first, wow, talk about delicate and delicious in the same mouthful, what you don’t get here is that nasty doughiness of being cheaped out of less meat and more filler, the wrapping is thin, and the meat, perfectly balanced with the vegetables, and juicy too, almost didn’t even need the vinegar that was provided on the side to eat these things as the marinade from the meat was just right.
Talk about a great snack, let alone a meal, come on up here and try some of these dumplings. I’ve been waiting to go back and eat this, they sell frozen as well to take home, I wonder how those are, maybe I’ll buy a batch soon, but what’s not to like about a cheap fix and good, I mean great simple food like this!

This handmade dumping food court stall is a hidden gem. It’s really hidden because this mom and pop shop is tucked on the second floor (near the washroom at the back) right above T & T Supermarket in Richmond on Cambie St.
My partner and I were just strolling and decided to give this place a try. It’s hard to say no to a place that’s making fresh dumpling skin right in front of your eyes. I was warmly greeted by the husband and wife who look like they’re in their 60’s. I said I would like to get some pan-​fried pork dumplings. The man said they have quite a number of variations: pork with Napa cabbage, pork with mushroom, pork with chives. I couldn’t decide. He said if I wanted, I can go for half and half: half pork with Napa cabbage and half pork with chives.$ 6.00. Done. Money out of my wallet. Big whop. It’s only $ 6.00. If it’s bad, well, nothing to cry home to mommy about. Warning, there are no English menus.
Sometime later I was called to pick up my food. I saw my plate (a real plate not paper plate) there were at least 10 dumplings with beautiful golden caramelized crust. I should have counted but I was so mesmerized by them. They were smaller, and slander than the regular ones I’ve had but the skin was thin so no doughy-​ness or heaviness. The filling was juicy and tasted fresh. This is WAY WAY WAY better than Prosperity Dumplings people were raving about in New York City. There was a small dish of light soy sauce but I am sure they’d be quite delicious with black vinegar and some chili sauce.
Will be back. No brainer.