The Chinese Restaurant Awards focuses on recognizing the best Chinese food in Metro Vancouver, from the point of view of both critics and diners. Now heading into its fourth year, the CRA is launching a new component. It’s best described as a Chinese version of Dine Out Vancouver, although it’s not affiliated with Tourism Vancouver, which organizes that annual event that starts in late January. From this Tuesday (November 1) to November 18, set menus will be on offer at 18 Chinese restaurants in Vancouver, Richmond, and Burnaby. “It’s the first collective program put on by Chinese restaurants in the history of the city,” says Craig Stowe, founding director of the CRA, and the first of its kind in North America.

At a media launch at Northern Delicacy Restaurant in Richmond, he explains that Dine Out Vancouver’s January timing is off for many Chinese restaurants as it leads up to the busy lunar new year period. Also, Chinese restaurants are geared to groups sharing many dishes, so a three-course promotion based on individual diners isn’t ideal. The Signature Dish Dining Festival addresses both issues.

It works like this. Each restaurant is offering set menus for four people at $100, six people at $150, and 10 people at $300. Some restaurants will feature dishes that won past CRA Signature Dish awards. (As part of the annual CRA awards, judges recognize dishes that particular restaurants do particularly well.) Since the festival is sponsored by Alberta beef and pork, each restaurant is including dishes based on those meats. Many are also emphasizing B.C. seafood. Some restaurants are offering dishes from their regular menu and some are creating new ones.

According to Stowe, the promotion is aimed not only at Vancouverites but also at the many part-time Chinese residents and tourists from mainland China. Lee Man, one of the CRA restaurant judges, adds that culinary tourists want Chinese food made with the best Canadian products: “They don’t want a copy of what they get in China; they want what’s local here.” Stowe credits “the disposable income to demand the best products” with the high quality of Chinese food in Metro Vancouver.

So what exactly is on these set menus? You can peruse each restaurant’s prix fixes at chinesediningguide.com. I sampled some of the offerings during the media launch and found the food to be quite diverse, ranging from the delicate Cantonese fare at Metrotown’s Fortune House Seafood Restaurant to the ragingly spicy Hunan cuisine at Burnaby’s Alvin Garden. Restaurants also range in style: for example, while Alvin is casual and rustic, Fortune delivered sophisticated, formal service.

Below, Carolyn Ali photos

Award-winning stir-fried beef with pickled green chili at Alvin Garden.

Those who like spicy food will love Alvin Garden, which makes lavish use of preserved chilli peppers. (You can specify your preferred heat level.) Alvin’s set menus feature its delicious, award-winning tea-smoked duck and its award-winning stir-fried beef with pickled green chili. I loved the latter dish, studded with sliced garlic and freshened with long stems of cilantro.

At Fortune House, every plate was a work of art; for example, the fried rice with dried scallops and shrimp arrived resembling a tiny big-top circus tent, wrapped in lotus leaves and crowned with a cherry. The excellent five-flavour rainbow pudding delivered not only fruity, coconut-milk goodness but beauty in a moulded, carp-shaped mango gelatin.

Five-flavour rainbow pudding at Fortune House.

Other standout dishes included the stir-fried beef tenderloin at Shi-Art Chinese Cuisine in Richmond, which came oh-so-lightly laced with wasabi and succulent fried eggplant. Shi-Art’s deep-fried shrimp roll also impressed for its presentation: the wispy, rice-flour-coated rolls resembled a floral arrangement. And I licked my fingers after anything that featured black vinegar, a sticky-sweet sauce similar to balsamic vinegar. For example, at Burnaby’s Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant, the black vinegar-coated roast pork chops were scrumptious, and the vinegar-laced pork brisket at Aberdeen Centre’s Northern Delicacy was divine with its melty, dreamy cap of fat.

Deep-fried shrimp roll at Shi-Art Chinese Cuisine.

Note that the set menus at each restaurant differ depending on your group size. So if your heart is set on a particular dish, you’ll have to rustle up the right number of people. That said, even the menus for four tend to have interesting options, and sometimes it’s good to be nudged into trying something new. The advantage of the set menus is that the chef balances the whole meal for you, so ordering is easier, especially for those less familiar with Chinese-style dining.

Reservations are recommended, and when you call, specify that you’re coming in for the promotion.