Dim Sum Head Chef, Lanxuan Restaurant
♦ 3631 No. 3 Rd #170, Richmond

—

Chef Lai Wei has over 30 years of experience in making dim sum for numerous restaurants around Metro Vancouver, and he enjoys coming up with creative new items for customers to try. Currently at Lanxuan Restaurant in Richmond, Lai, 60, has an array of dim sum not found elsewhere, such as spicy beef rice rolls, steamed sergestid shrimp dumpling, and steamed spinach juice rice rolls wrap with Chinese donut.

Originally from Foshan, Guangdong province, Lai got into dim sum at the relatively late age of 27. When he arrived in Vancouver in 1990 from Hong Kong, Lai didn’t know much English and a relative who made dim sum got him a job. “As long as you work hard you will succeed,” he says. Later he preferred working as a dim sum chef, so that he finished work in the afternoon and could have dinner with his family.

Lai has worked at places like Fortune Terrace, Rainflower, and most recently Chef’s Choice Chinese Cuisine which was recently awarded a Michelin recommendation.

His philosophy is to constantly strive to improve, saying, “If you have standards then you can do better.” For Lai, it is a combination of putting effort into how he makes dim sum and understanding what diners want. “When they like what you’ve made then you’ll be happy,” he says.

While he is content with what he has accomplished, Lai is concerned there aren’t enough young people entering the Chinese restaurant business. “By the time I retire, I may not be able to eat these kinds of dishes,” he says, which is why he encourages the next generation to take on the mantle. “There are fewer people in this trade so there are more opportunities,” he says.