This one took awhile to open up, and set in the Hastings-Sunrise area there was excitement as to a place where you could walk in and just have hot, steaming, freshly made dim sum was definitely attractive, without going to a restaurant, waiting for a seat, and doing the full sit in experience.
What formerly was a small grocery store is now Kam Wai, that same one that has their original store in Chinatown. I haven't eaten at Kam Wai in a long time and coming in here it was quite the experience. Everything when new is always mesmerizing, from the decor, to really playing up the local Vancouver Chinese heritage. When you walk in there is a communal table and some seating at the window, at the back left is all their frozen made dim sum for you to buy and bring home, right in front of the freezer's is a display of local Chinese kids books, bowls and plates and some other Chinese heritage knickknacks. The middle rear center is why most people are here, to order ready made food, and you can see all the steamed items ready to buy and eat behind their glass displays, you can order a nice selection of steamed buns, you can also order wonton noodles and HK milk tea, the menu is actually pretty vast, from sweets to savory's, there is something that will get you at anytime of the day when you are here.
This is strictly my own personal opinion, as food is subjective, I personally found the flavours of everything I ordered not fitting my palate. To put it lightly, it tasted like regular at home, steam yourself up frozen dim sum. There is something to be said about restaurant quality food, and in terms of dim sum, this really showed (and I have had some other frozen dim sum places that either mimicked or were better than most restaurants) as I felt there were more fillers in the food. Nothing tasted great, just something that was there and wasn't special to me. That said, I know many people were waiting for this place, and I remember how the Chinatown one tasted, so I give this place hope, and maybe the pots are still too new, and still need to be cooked in more to get the taste right.
That said, this place is a great addition to the area, and one where you want dim sum but you don't have a group of people and you won't feel weird on coming in alone, and it is affordable. read more