“Chinatown’s food culture has flourished over the last 10 years. Others, like tapas wine bar La Boqueria and boutique doughnut shop Mello, opened in Chinatown a few years earlier, each adding to the neighbourhood’s new identity, Eng said. One example, fusion gastropub The Darkside, officially opened in January and features a mix of West Coast and Asian cuisine in a casual bar atmosphere. In February, the Daisy Garden Kitchen, another four-decade mainstay, announced it was tapping out.īut new restaurants haven’t stopped opening, Eng said. Jordan Eng, president of the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association, said that in the past five years, the neighbourhood has lost at least 20 per cent of its 100 heritage businesses, loosely defined as stores or eateries that have operated for more than 25 years.Įarlier this month, Kent’s Kitchen - a neighbourhood stalwart for more than 40 years - announced it will shutter its Vancouver Chinatown location in April.

The Ugly Duckling is now an important resident of Canada’s oldest Chinatown, and part of a phenomenon as Chinatowns in Western Canada evolve and the owners of traditional eateries age out of business or move away.

But it has helped refine our message and guide us in a direction that, I think, makes us a lot more interesting than what we would have been.” “Honestly, at first it felt like a little bit of a restriction,” Mathany said. The bill arrives pinned to a postcard of Victoria’s Chinatown in 1898, depicting children celebrating Lunar New Year.ĭeveloper Robert Fung, whose company, The Salient Group, is renovating two city blocks in Chinatown, insisted on the inclusion of the homages for businesses looking to locate there. The tasting menu includes dumplings, Chinese buns and steamed custards. Proprietor and chef Corbin Mathany incorporates Chinese ingredients and techniques in almost every dish.

The Ugly Duckling, which opened less than two months ago in Victoria’s historic Chinatown, is not a Chinese restaurant.īut the fine dining eatery goes out of its way to add touches of Chinese culture to its dining experience. Every Thursday to Sunday evening, the wait staff at the Ugly Duckling Dining & Provisions restaurant carefully set knives and forks on chopstick rests at each table.

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