Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant

A GuestLife Vancouver
Great Restaurant

The Sunday brunch lineups and Monday-to-Friday lunchtime crowds tell prospective patrons all they need to know about the Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant: People love it. For 20 years, the Pink Pearl has been serving up dish upon dish of what Vancouverites and visitors alike have come to refer to as, “the best dim sum in the city.” No other establishment even comes close.

With over 100 varieties from which to choose, the Pink Pearl’s dim sum — mouth-watering morsels of authentic Cantonese and Szechwan fare — arrives at your table via trolleys wheeled by a team of twodozen “dim sum girls” circulating throughout the recently refurbished 600-seat restaurant. With an additional 20-member waiting staff pitching in, the seemingly endless stream of succulent snippets moves seamlessly from the kitchen to your taste buds. “Our menu is always changing,” says manager Raymond Fu. “Our owner travels constantly to Hong Kong and China. Every time he discovers something that is suitable for us, we try it. If it’s popular, we keep it.”

Working under the tutelage of chef Hung Yuen — who has been with the establishment since its opening and who handpicks fresh produce and ingredients every day — the sizeable kitchen staff prepares hot shrimp dumplings, pan-fried pork buns, delectable beef balls, and spring rolls stuffed with seafood and fried in pure vegetable oil, among other delicacies.

Pink Pearl’s dinner menu, meanwhile, is equally appetizing. “Peking duck wrapped in a traditional rice-flour dough is one of our biggest sellers,” says Fu, noting that 20 to 30 of the birds are ordered each weekend. And then there are the live-and-fresh seafood specialties, including Alaskan King crab, steamed black cod in black bean sauce, and assorted shrimp, prawn, oyster, scallop and geoduck dishes.

Given the exceptional food and service, moderate pricing and casual ambiance, the Pink Pearl attracts an incredibly diversified clientele, ranging from families to celebrities. Visiting film and TV stars, former-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and most of the city’s mayors have graced the establishment with their presence. “We get lots of luminaries,” says Fu, adding with a gentle laugh: “When people come in and say, ‘Look! There’s so-and-so,’ it’s good for business.”

Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant
1132 East Hastings, Vancouver
604-253-4316

Menu Highlights

pictured: Lobster with rock salt and Peking Duck

Appetizers

Peking Duck
lettuce wrap, deep-fried wonton, crispy spring roll

Deep Fried Stuffed Crab Claw
crab claw stuffed with shrimp paste, deep fried

Rainbow Lettuce Wrap
minced meat with several kinds of vegetables finely chopped, stir fried and served with iceberg lettuce and hoi sin sauce

Entrées

Lobster
with black bean sauce

Steamed Rock Cod
with ginger and green onion, topped with soya sauce and steamed

Lemon Chicken

Ginger Beef
deep-fried beef strip with honey and dried-chili sauce

Shrimp
Szechwan Style

Prawns with Lobster
sautéed prawns in whole black bean and egg white sauce

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Crab
with black bean sauce

Seafood with vegetables
in a nest

Pink Pearl Special Platter

Deep Fried Prawns
with spicy rock salt and pepper

Desserts

Baked Tapioca Pudding

Deep Fried Banana
with ice cream

Mango Pudding

Best of the Cellar

Red Wines

Jackson Triggs Cabernet, BC

Fetzer Zinfandel, Mendocino County, California

White Wines

Jackson Triggs Sauvignon Blanc, BC

Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc, California