Back in June, this room sold noodles by the gram.
It now has transformed from its weighted malatang concept to sell an $88 duck on the menu.
Datang Bistro has soft opened on Leslie Road in Richmond, and we went in anonymously on the first day.
The name told anyone paying attention what the food would be. Chang’an, the Chinese name on the sign, is the old name for Xi’an.
Before the opening, there wasn’t any information on what the bistro would be offering.
Now we have a clearer idea from the menu.
Roujiamo, the Shaanxi flatbread sandwich often called a Chinese burger, sits alongside Xi’an liangpi, Qishan saozi noodles, shuipen lamb, and oil-splashed noodles with beef short rib.
Northeastern and Beijing dishes fill out the rest, including a Demoli-style braised whole fish and the Peking duck at $88 for the bird.
That last number is the clearest measure of the shift. This was a shop where you piled a bowl and paid by weight.
The room has moved just as far.
The bright cream malatang shop that stood here until June is completely gone, replaced by black panelling, orange leather banquettes, and black marble tables on carved legs.
Orange glass pendants hang over each booth, traditional Chinese music plays underneath, and a painting of persimmon branches runs along the back wall.
Even the teacups carry the same tangerine motif that shows up in the artwork.
Ask for hot tea and it arrives full of apple, red dates and other herbs rather than plain leaves.
That alone tells you the brief changed.
We ordered the lamb paomo, the Xi’an dish where flatbread is torn into a rich lamb broth.
Staff says the flatbread is made in house, though it is machine-cut rather than hand-torn, and you can see it in the bowl.
The pieces are uniform in a way hand-ripped bread never is.
The portion is actually more generous than the photo appears, but the ladle that they give by default does scream that this was meant to be shared.
We found the broth satisfying with decent depth, and no issues with the slices of lamb and vermicelli round it out.
Service was the big rough edge.
Usually we don’t comment on service during the soft open period since we know they are still ironing things out.
But this was a head-scratcher considering the boss of Datang is a longtime restaurateur.
Our bowl of noodles took 45 minutes to arrive, even though there were only a few customers there and a table seated after us got ALL their food well before us.
We’ve watched enough Chinese breakfast market and Xi’an food videos on YouTube to know that Lamb Paomo doesn’t take long to make.
The majority of the time is spent on the customer ripping the bread.
We’re hoping the kitchen sorts that out in its opening week because that was surprising to see from a seasoned operator (they also own Happy Tree FYI).
Datang’s malatang era actually had a lot of fans, and it lasted just over a year before the whole thing was gutted and rebuilt.
Richmond is not short of Xi’an food, but it is short of Xi’an food served in a room like this one, and that is the bet.
Datang Bistro joins a run of recently opened Richmond spots including Jing Noodle House, Chuan Noodle House, and Pika Herb Tea.
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: 8140 Leslie Road, Richmond, BC