This summer, Richmond’s food scene has been the busiest in Metro Vancouver for openings and closures.
That’s no surprise, given the HIGH turnover the city’s food courts and plazas have seen all year.
The new spots range from popular overseas chains to expanding local favourites.
Here are the spots that opened their doors in Richmond:
1. Dimsum Caddy
Eighty-seven dishes, 160 seats and a dim sum kitchen that runs until 12:30 in the morning, in the 8,000 square foot unit the Shark Club left behind.
Owner John Su also runs GONG, the late-night patio at Yue. He frames it as a dim sum operator that added golf, not a golf bar that added dumplings.
Address: 10331 St. Edwards Drive, Richmond BC
Inside the Dimsum Caddy opening
2. TeaByDo
A chain with more than 8,700 stores that sells over a billion cups of tea a year, trading as Cha Panda in many of its markets, put its first British Columbia shop in Union Square beside Capstan Station. It is the company’s third in Canada.
Soft opened August 25.
Address: 1126-8328 Capstan Way, Richmond BC
3. Jing Noodle House
A Wuhan-style noodle shop opened in the Parker Place food court unit that Jiang Jiang left behind in July, only weeks after that goodbye.
Build a bowl from Wuhan noodles, rice noodles or plain rice, then pick mala beef, mala beef tripe, shredded beef or braised beef.
Address: Parker Place food court, 4380 No. 3 Road, Richmond BC
4. Chuan Noodle House
Chongqing-style noodles took the old Grandma Liu Hotpot unit in the plaza regulars call Diabetes Plaza, soft opening August 3. More than eight noodle options run from braised beef brisket to braised intestine and wanza.
Ordering is by QR code at the table, and little pandas sit on bamboo in the corners.
Address: Unit 145, the Richmond plaza regulars call Diabetes Plaza
Chuan Noodle House and the mala buzz
5. POCO RIT
A cafe at Concord Galleria with a corner at the back where you take your shoes off before you sit down. It opened quietly in late July with no announcement, after Opening Soon posters had promised spring.
Red Note found it anyway, and the counter had sold out of everything on our first attempt.
Address: Unit 115, 3328 No. 3 Road, Richmond BC
POCO RIT opened without telling anyone
6. One Cafe Lansdowne
The Hong Kong style cafe’s third Richmond address opened July 16 in the Lansdowne Centre food court, taking the old Villa Vietnamese unit. The board runs a bolo bao series, HK sandwiches, a French toast section and all-day breakfast sets.
Two days in, the lunch line was about twenty people deep.
Address: Lansdowne Centre food court, 5300 No. 3 Road, Richmond
One Cafe’s third Richmond stall
7. El Comal Express
In 1996 Elsa Núñez got tired of driving to the United States for tortillas and bought a small machine to make her own, naming the business after the clay griddle the Aztecs cooked on.
Thirty years later it has a food court stall, in the unit LUCA vacated. Opened August 21.
Address: Aberdeen Centre food court, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
The El Comal story, 30 years on
8. Oakberry
The acai chain that launched in 2016 and now runs more than 600 stores worldwide opened its first Richmond shop by Capstan Station on July 19. Bowls are layered rather than blitzed, built on an acai base with fresh fruit, granola and chia seeds.
The counter was three and four deep on day two.
Address: 8535 Capstan Way, Richmond BC
9. Baskin Robbins
The Lansdowne Centre corner that used to hold an Express Lane post office counter now runs a scoop case and an ice cream cake counter, directly across from the T&T entrance. The signage sat there for months saying nothing but “made you look.”
Opened July 31.
Address: Lansdowne Centre, 5300 No. 3 Road, Richmond BC
What opened in the old post office unit
10. Wharf & Flame Smokehouse + Lounge
Slow-smoked Texas barbecue took over the former Good Co. Bar unit on Bayview Street, filling one of the biggest patios in Steveston Village after it sat mostly empty through the spring.
Locally owned, family run, smoked in house, with tables looking straight out over the water. Opened in early May.
Address: 120-4020 Bayview Street, Richmond BC
Steveston’s waterfront patio has a tenant
11. Datang Bistro
In June this Leslie Road room sold noodles by the gram. It now lists an $88 Peking duck.
The Chinese name on the sign is Chang’an, the old name for Xi’an, and the menu follows: roujiamo, Xi’an liangpi, Qishan saozi noodles and shuipen lamb.
Address: 8140 Leslie Road, Richmond BC
We went in on Datang Bistro’s first day
12. CK Tea C
Kee and Anne, the team behind Ming Tak, the Hong Kong style restaurant that ran 24 years on Granville Street before closing in 2025, opened a stall in the Pacific Plaza food court on June 23.
They took the old Taikoo Yummy Food unit. It is not a straight Ming Tak revival.
Address: Pacific Plaza food court, stall 2210, Richmond BC
13. Toki
Jeff and Joyce of Teaspoons Co. spent four months getting a mint-green matcha trailer through permits, after years of hauling sinks and tables to every pop-up they did.
Unable to find a unit with workable zoning or plumbing, they built one on wheels. It soft opened July 17 near the Auto Mall.
Address: 13888 Wireless Way, Richmond BC
14. DBB Cake
Years of selling cakes through WeChat and RedNote, and this is the brand’s first storefront, in the Ackroyd Road plaza with the Staples. They barely touched the old Hy Tea Patisserie room, keeping the cream panelling, the gold branch chandelier and the marble tables. The cheapest slice in the case is $9.99.
Address: 165-8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond BC
DBB Cake’s first physical shop
15. Pika Herb & Tea Co.
One section of the menu is filed under Hair Tonic, where the Midnight Root Infusion is described as prepared He Shou Wu and black beans to nourish the kidneys and strengthen hair from the roots.
The tagline along the top is blunter: your favorite bubble tea, just healthier.
Address: 8580 Alexandra Road, Unit 1125, Richmond BC
The Hair Tonic menu, explained
16. Man Ri Sung
The Aberdeen Centre restaurant that carved Peking duck at the table for a decade opened a food court stall one floor below, in the corner unit Haoyijia left behind. The duck did not make the trip downstairs.
The stall menu is fully Korean, running jajangmyeon, spicy seafood noodle soup and seafood pancake.
Address: Aberdeen Centre food court, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
17. DollarBOBA
A self-serve boba shop in Broadmoor Village built entirely around unlimited free toppings, in the old FreshSlice unit. Pick a tea base or a smoothie, then load pearls, jelly, pudding and popping boba at no extra charge.
Owner and founder Nathan pitched it against drinks that feel expensive and overly complicated.
Address: 10111 No. 3 Road #130, Richmond BC
How the free-topping model works
Seventeen in one summer is a lot for one city, and Union Square and the Aberdeen food court did most of the heavy lifting.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
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