In Vancouver, Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant can never be overlooked speaking of Cantonese restaurants.  Over 14 years after its launch, the highly popular, award-winning restaurant has long topped the lists on Yelp and Zomato, making it an undeniable benchmark in the Chinese cuisine industry in Vancouver. Then, what is the secret behind its long-term popularity?  The answer is simple: it is top-class food, top-class services plus constant innovation that created this award-winning, world-class restaurant with great popularity and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant

西湖海鮮酒家

4989 Victoria Dr, Vancouver, BC V5P 3T7

604-321-6862

Unquestionable top-grade flavors

Carrying forward more than a decade’s worth of legacy, Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant has long developed a sophisticated cuisine system comprising of perfect combinations of dish flavors and varieties. In particular, its dim sum and dinner services have long been highly sought-after offerings.

The exquisite, delicious dim sum is undoubtedly the top choice at Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant. Steamed Prawn Dumplings are extraordinarily large sized and fully stuffed with translucent meat, producing a smooth, firm, tender and juicy texture. With a crispy skin, the Steamed Chicken Feet with Special Sauce has a rich fragrance of black beans and melts instantly in your mouth, producing an infinitely lingering aftertaste.  

The award-winning Western Lake Specialty Free Range Chicken is a must-have dish in the restaurant, which represents the result of true cooking techniques and skills.  The chicken, in itself, is juicy, soft and tasty. To maintain a consistency, the dish is prepared with a unique cooking method. First, the chicken is cooked in water just a little bit below the boiling degree.  Then, put the cooked chicken into ice water to lock the juice and softness of the meat.  What is eventually served on table is light-color chicken with skin, bones and dipping sauce made of ginger, garlic, salt and hot oil. It provides tender meat with fresh, bright flavor. In 2019, Western Lake Specialty Free Range Chicken won the “Critics' Choice Signature Dish Awards” at the 11th Chinese Restaurant Awards. The honor was widely reported by prestigious media like Foodology CA, Vancouver Is Awesome and Vancouver Sun, a sufficient proof that the dish is just perfect.

The Beijing Duck-Crispy Skin with Crepes offered by the restaurant is also highly recommendable. The thin, crispy skin is attached with tender meat. Beijing Duck-Crispy Skin with Crepes is usually eaten as two courses: The first course is wheat flour crepe that wraps around the juicy sliced duck skin complemented by hoisin sauce (sweet bean sauce) and thin spring onion slices; the second course is minced duck lettuce wrap. Given interesting interactions in these courses, the dish provides great enjoyment.

Other top choices of the restaurant also include Steamed Pork&Shrimp Dumplings and Pan Fried Eggplant Shrimp Paste with Black Bean Sauce.

Extraordinary skills of the chefs

The popularity of the dishes offered by Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant is inseparable from the exceptional cooking skills of chefs.  Tony Mah and John Deng, head chefs of the restaurant, both have more than 3 decades’ worth of culinary experience, along with multiple awards. Constantly renewing Chinese dishes with innovative cooking and brilliant skills, they have invented many popular delicacies integrating northern and Cantonese elements. The two chefs insist upon using the freshest ingredients of the season. Committed to providing the best dining experience for customers, they spare no effort to purchase the best ingredients from the local market on a daily basis.

In a thriving yet utilitarian catering market, the operators of Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant do not show any sign of complacency even in the face of so many honors and awards; instead, they decided to assume a relaxed mentality. They focus their efforts on preparing good dishes and treating every customer impartially, because the operators always believe that keeping a low profile and being attentive to details and honesty is the key to the restaurant’s success, as well as the unique secret why it is so widely loved.