Richmond locals has been wanting a Taiwanese stir-fry spot ever since Maji shut down long ago.
Well, now there’s finally a new one in the city.
Xiaoyu Bistro soft opened at the end of August in Continental Shopping Centre.
It takes the corner unit Uncle Lu previously occupied, renovated into something more modern, with plenty of tables still sitting close together.
The wok is run by Alan Chen, a chef from Taichung, and the kitchen is built around the late-night stir fry format Taiwan.
We heard how packed the first week got, so we waited a bit before going in anonymously.
One thing to note is that the menu is surprisingly long.
Taiwanese classics sit beside newer takes on them, and it runs from seafood through stir fries to vegetables and rice plates.
Whole crab shows up twice, once salted egg yolk style and once typhoon shelter style, and there is a crab sticky rice steamed over lotus leaf.
We went during a late lunch with dinner plans already booked, so we just ordered something small.
The server pointed at two things: the stinky tofu and the braised pork rice.
Stinky tofu is an occasional thing for us rather than a habit, but it was recommended, so why not?.
It arrived fried into crisp-edged cubes with a spicy sour sauce alongside, and the smell was noticeably milder than the night market version.
Taste-wise – that earthy umami profile was there.
For the braised pork rice we took the upgraded bowl with oysters, which runs $20 against $14 for the standard one.
When the bowl arrived, it looked small and we were suspicious about the portion.
But for one person and lunch, it was actually a great size.
Under a whole fried egg sits braised pork with enough sauce and juice to work through every grain of rice, and the oysters lift a street food staple into something closer to a dinner plate.
We didn’t get to a lot on a pre-dinner stop and there are items we’ll definitely need to come back for including the lobster bisque paofan the team pours tableside, the three cup chicken and the dried radish omelet.
The room runs to 10 pm most nights and 11 pm on Friday and Saturday, which is the closest Richmond gets to the late-night spot.
Xiaoyu Bistro joins other recently opened Richmond food spots like Spice & Sea, Mr. Noodle Chen, and Dolan.
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: 1101-3779 Sexsmith Road, Richmond, BC (Continental Shopping Centre)
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