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No. 3 Road is where most of Richmond's eating happens, and the density is genuinely unusual. Alexandra Road alone packs dozens of kitchens into three short blocks, and the food courts under Aberdeen Centre, Yaohan and Parker Place hold dozens more. That is one end of the city. At the other, Moncton Street in Steveston runs on independent bakeries, cafés and fish-and-chip counters within sight of a working fishing fleet.
In between sit the neighbourhood plazas most residents actually use week to week: Blundell Centre, Seafair, Terra Nova Village, Ironwood Plaza, the strip retail on Williams Road. This section covers all of it: restaurants, cafés, bakeries, bars and breweries, dessert counters, grocers, liquor stores and the corner shops that stay open longest.
The Vancouver chain's largest store, about 19,000 square feet on Garden City Road and open 8:30am to 10pm daily. Straightforward Chinese-Canadian grocery shopping: fresh meat and seafood counters, stacked produce, bulk dry goods and sauces.
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Shunde-style Cantonese restaurant on Garden City Road, focused on the delicate southern cooking that region is known for: steamed fish, double-boiled soups, stir-fried milk and fresh fish congee. Food-first, not a banquet hall.
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A small family-run Hawaiian spot in the Bayview block near the Steveston waterfront. Plate lunches, kalua pork and loco moco come out fast and cheap, with rice and mac salad on the side. Limited seating, so many orders head out to the boardwalk.
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A newer Yaohan Centre shop that steams its own taro and ube in house instead of reaching for powder, which shows up clearly in the texture of the milk lattes. Fruit teas and matcha round out a short menu. Find it on the No. 3 Road frontage.
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A small independent shop on Minoru Boulevard in the city centre, handy for snacks, drinks and last-minute items, and used by neighbours as a parcel drop-off point. Prices are not always posted, so it is worth asking before you reach the till.
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A Second Avenue scoop shop in Steveston Village with a broad range of ice cream and sorbet including local makers, plus bubble waffles, bubble tea and shakes. Picnic tables outside, prices below the tourist strip, and open until 9pm in summer.
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A small fine-dining Thai room on the Steveston waterfront serving a set menu at fixed seatings, Wednesday through Sunday only. Reservations are essential, and there is a Thai afternoon tea service on weekends. Expect a long, formal, expensive meal.
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A Taiwanese-run bakery across the road from Aberdeen Centre making deliberately oversized pastries: big madeleine-style cakes filled with custard and raisins, Hokkaido milk bread, sesame and red bean buns. Cheaper than its neighbours and take-out focused.
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A Vietnamese counter off McClelland Road baking its own baguettes for banh mi, with pho simmered from beef bones, ginger and toasted onion. Sandwiches are made to order and cheap; the pho and French pastries make it worth sitting down for.
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A long-running seafood room on the Bayview Pier, one floor below Catch. The kitchen keeps things simple: local fish, chowder and shellfish, with harbour views from most tables. A reliable choice when you want a proper sit-down dinner in the village.
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A weekday breakfast-and-lunch counter serving the businesses out in Richmond's far-east industrial belt on Westminster Highway. Straightforward espresso, pastries and light meals, closed on weekends, so it is very much a working-day cafe.
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Breakfast and brunch only, closing by early afternoon. The menu works Asian flavours into diner staples - ube lattes, challah French toast, breakfast ratatouille. No reservations are taken, so expect a wait on weekend mornings.
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Britannia's Steveston taproom sits a block off the waterfront and pairs its own British-leaning ales with a full seafood-forward kitchen. Locals come for a flight alongside chowder or fish and chips, and it opens early enough to serve breakfast on weekends.
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A twenty-year Vancouver Hong Kong-style cafe that finally crossed the bridge to Alexandra Road, doing the full cha chaan teng repertoire of baked pork chop rice, macaroni soup and milk tea. Open past 11pm, which suits the Golden Village crowd.
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All-day cafe on Moncton Street doing brunch, fusion paellas, eggs benedict and handmade Shanghai dumplings. Fans of Once Upon a Time will recognise the frontage as Granny's Diner. Family-friendly with a kids' menu and a private room for groups.
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A whisky lounge inside Club Versante with a large by-the-glass list and izakaya-style plates off a robata grill. There is a glassed-in vault dining room, live entertainment several nights a week, and two small private rooms. Dressier than a pub.
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Upstairs on the Bayview pier with big windows over Fisherman's Wharf, Catch serves West Coast seafood alongside steaks, burgers and pasta. Locals come for the sunset patio, the halibut and black cod, and a kitchen that runs late on weekend nights.
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A restaurant and bar on Minoru Boulevard serving Pacific Northwest cooking from breakfast through dinner, with cocktails, BC wine and local beer. Live music on Thursdays and free parking. Handy to Richmond Centre, Minoru Park and the hospital.
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Hunan restaurant just off the Alexandra Road strip serving genuinely spicy provincial cooking: chopped chilli fish head, smoked pork, and stir-fries heavy on fresh and pickled peppers. Also known for an oversized youtiao shared around the table.
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Upscale Cantonese seafood house inside Empire Centre on No. 3 Road. Known for elaborate, modern-looking dim sum, live tank seafood and Peking duck. One of the standard Richmond picks for banquets and big weekend family lunches.
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A small Steveston burger-and-beer room on No. 1 Road with seasonal local plates and a busy weekend brunch that runs on a ninety-minute seating limit. Reservations and the waitlist are handled online rather than by phone.
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An Aberdeen Square shop steps from the SkyTrain doing dessert-like drinks: taro and purple sweet potato milk, oreo slush with cheese foam, salted cream toppings. More indulgent than most of the strip, and the portions are generous.
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An unusual crossover at No. 3 and Cook: fruit-forward bubble tea on one side, French-style low-sugar cakes on the other. Mango pomelo sago and passion fruit teas get ordered most, and the cake boxes make it a gift stop as well.
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From the blog
Guides and roundups written for Richmond, with the businesses linked inline.
Nothing on Alexandra Road is a hidden gem. It is just in a strip mall with bad signage and no patio, which is why visitors never find it. Here is how I actually use Richmond's plazas and food courts, which specialists are worth the drive, and when not to bother.
The West Dyke Trail is about five and a half kilometres of flat gravel between Terra Nova Rural Park and Garry Point, and I ride it most mornings. Here is what is actually at the north end, which way to walk so the wind is on your side, and why winter is the better season for it.
I live four blocks off Moncton Street, so this is the Steveston I actually use: where to park before the Bayview lots fill, how to buy fish straight off the boats at the wharf, the honest answer to the Pajo's versus Dave's question, and why the history here is not decoration.
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