The Aberdeen Centre restaurant that carved Peking duck tableside for a decade is coming back, this time as a food court stall.
Man Ri Sung, the Korean spot that closed its upper-level Aberdeen Centre restaurant last month, has resurfaced one floor down.
Its bright yellow sign is now up over a stall in the food court, on the corner unit that Haoyijia left behind.
We had a hunch this was coming.
When Man Ri Sung announced its closure, we guessed the empty Haoyijia corner was its most likely landing spot, but there was nothing official to confirm it.
Now the sign settles it.
A paper notice taped up at the stall says the new counter will open soon, around July 15.
Man Ri Sung ran its sit-down restaurant on the upper level for 10 years before closing on June 7, with a handwritten note telling regulars that was the last day.
The kitchen is led by Chef Sang Myung Lee, a Korean chef born in China, whose tableside Peking duck became the house signature over nearly two decades of cooking it.
That is the part worth watching here.
A full-service dining room and a grab-and-go food court counter are two very different setups.
The big question is whether the Peking duck makes the move, or whether the stall leans into a tighter, faster menu built for food court traffic.
Man Ri Sung has moved before, too.
It ran in a plaza across from Richmond Public Market and first opened back in Port Coquitlam in 2015, so the food court is just the latest stop in a long run.
Aberdeen Centre has been running through turnovers all year, with stalls and restaurants trading hands across both the food court and the upper floors.
Man Ri Sung moving from a full restaurant into a food court stall is one of the more unusual swaps in that run.
For now, the sign and the paper notice are the whole story, with the counter still being set up behind them.
There is no confirmed menu yet, only the mid-July target on the notice.
Man Ri Sung’s food court return joins a run of upcoming Richmond spots like Chuan Noodle House, Fresh St. Market at Richmond Centre, and Roastory Asian BBQ.
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: Aberdeen Centre food court, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC