The tableside Peking duck did not make the trip downstairs.
Man Ri Sung, the Aberdeen Centre restaurant that carved duck at the table for a decade, has opened its food court stall one floor below.
We stopped by the Richmond mall earlier this week and found the counter running, with a small line of customers ordering and the original chef working behind the glass.
The stall sits in the corner unit that Haoyijia left behind, beside the washroom, under a bright yellow Man Ri Sung sign that went up in early July.
The printed menu board propped on the counter answers the question our last report left open.
This is a fully Korean menu now.
The signature noodles run thin-noodle jajangmyeon, a spicy seafood noodle soup, and a seafood black bean noodle plate built for two.
The crispy section is three plates deep, sweet and sour pork, spicy lemon chicken, and a seafood pancake.
Korean favourites cover pork bone soup, stone bibimbap, soft tofu soup, kimchi fried rice, and stir-fried squid with rice.
There is also a two-person combo that pairs one noodle dish with one of the fried plates.
Then there is the street food row, eight gimbap lined up across the bottom of the board, filled with chicken, kimchi, tuna, spicy pork, beef, and duck.
As you can see, no Peking duck in sight.
That is the detail worth sitting with.
Chef Sang Myung Lee had been cooking Peking duck for close to two decades, and the upstairs restaurant menu leaned a tiny bit more Chinese than Korean because of it.
It is a trade-off for the format, since a food court peking duck likely wouldn’t have the same feeling.
Man Ri Sung ran its upper-level restaurant for 10 years before closing on June 7, with a handwritten note telling customers that was the last day.
Before that it lived in the plaza across from the Richmond Public Market, and it first opened in Port Coquitlam back in 2015.
The mall itself has had a heavy year of turnover, and this stall is part of it.
What’s taking over now empty Man Ri Sung restaurant on the third floor is still unknown.
Man Ri Sung’s food court stall now joins other recently opened Richmond food spots like Oakberry, One Cafe at Lansdowne Centre, and Toki.
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Address: Aberdeen Centre food court, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC