Empire Centre’s food court keeps building out, and the newest signage just went up for an Xi’an cuisine specialist.
A Noms Mag community member (Jessho) spotted signs for Meeting in Chang’an, a new Chinese burger (Rou Jia Mo) focused stall, has taken over one of the food court’s converted retail units in Richmond’s Empire Centre.
The unit is currently boarded up with kraft paper while the team finishes the buildout.
According to the owner’s Red Note post, the stall is roughly 90 percent complete and waiting on inspection and approval.
No opening date has been shared yet.
The branding makes the focus clear.
The English name, Meeting in Chang’an, references the ancient capital that is now Xi’an, and the Chinese signage reads 西安肉夹馍 with Rou Jia Mo underneath.
Rou Jia Mo is the dish often translated as Chinese hamburger, made by stuffing slow-braised meat into a hand-baked flatbread.
It is a Xi’an street food classic, with the bread baked to order in a clay oven or on a flat griddle and the filling braised low and slow for hours.
The owner says they were born and raised in Xi’an before moving to Changsha, then to Vancouver, where the family has lived for seven years.
Their Red Note bio frames the stall as a homesick love letter.
“It’s fate that brought us together in Vancouver, thousands of miles from home,” the owner writes, adding that food and dialect “can evoke memories of our youth” and that they want to bring Xi’an’s culinary delights back to the community.
Beyond the namesake Rou Jia Mo, the team is also planning cold noodles, mutton stew with bread (yangrou paomo), and spicy soup.
That lineup gives Meeting in Chang’an a clear lane in the food court.
Empire Centre’s food court has slowly become one of the busiest in Richmond, with old retail units now being converted into stalls.
The mall used to lean heavier on dry retail, but the past year has seen more of its units flip into hot food formats.
Meeting in Chang’an joins One Bolo, the pineapple bun spinoff from One Cafe, as one of the next openings inside the same food court.
Across the rest of Richmond, recently spotted upcoming spots include Spice & Sea, HE MADE, and Ningo Seafood Restaurant.
We will keep an eye on the unit and update once an opening date is locked in.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: Empire Centre Food Court, Richmond, BC