All all-day dim sum restaurant has opened in the heart of the Granville Street Entertainment District in Downtown Vancouver. Cold Tea Restaurant opened at 1193 Granville Street and aims to be a modern, laid-back dim sum spot as well as feature Chinese-Vietnamese cuisine with North American service.

Cold Tea Menu

Cold Tea’s menu is meant to be inviting and playful but still encompass the bold spices of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine.

The restaurant had planned to open in March 2020 and their concept was to bring back the legendary dim sum cart style lunch including a variety of steamed dumplings such as Xiao Long Bao (Cold Tea’s version will be the Pho Long Bao), wontons and more.

Other dishes on the menu would include bahn mi baos, lettuce wraps, veg and meat spring rolls, 5-spice carbonara with Lai Fun rice noodle, lemongrass rice bowls and pho.

Along with the dim sum carts, originally they also had drink carts for the evening service, where bartenders will be making tableside cocktails.

Focused Takeout/Delivery options

While dine-in at Cold Tea is temporarily on hold, the restaurant is offering a small focused takeout menu. They are unable to offer most of their dim sum menu as these do not carry well.

The takeout menu includes share plates (like coconut noodles with shredded pork and braised pork belly), banh mi & bao (like Aunty Six’s Famous Chicken Sub & Saigon Special Sub), wraps & rolls, wok-created dishes (like crispy chow mein with char siu and wok beef), salads (like smashed cucumber salad), bowls (like BBQ duck on white rice and roast pork belly on 3 grain rice), soups (like chicken pho and congee with duck), and grill-created dishes (like chicken skewers and betel beef).

Delivery is available via Uber Eats and Doordash and takeout via Tock for the time being. Delivery days and hours will be Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 9pm.

Behind the Name “Cold Tea”

The restaurant’s name is paying homage to the history of the building they have leased, as their predecessor, Tsui Hang, was notoriously known for serving late night tea pots full of beer, which you could order as “cold tea” after legal serving hours.

While Cold Tea will not be serving alcohol after hours, they will have an enticing beverage lineup and dim-sum carts that turn into drink carts as the evenings age. 

The Team

Owners, Ron Cheng (Former General Manager, Hapa Izakaya, The Parlour, Tap and Barrel) and Paul Rivas (Owner, The Parlour & Bodega on Main) combine their Chinese and Spanish eating traditions to create a new-wave dim sum space that is accessible through a tapas sharing approach.

The Chef, Thien Vuong (Former Head Chef, The Parlour, Bodega on Main, Frankie G’s) who was born in Vietnam, with over 15 years of experience, will be adding his Vietnemese spin to the menu.

Partner, Joe Cheng (Former bartender Minami), plays a large part in the cocktail curation and spearheads the bar menu.

Cold Tea Delivery

The 130 person seated restaurant (160 standing) is designed to be unpretentious, inviting, modern, earthy, with classic chinese elements.

There is a large abacus (Chinese calculator) at the entrance and Asian artwork and murals around the space.

A larger than life mural in the main dining room was designed by Vancouver’s legendary Sace Forand.

The partners decided to keep the massive chandelier and original vases from Tsui Hang on display for some nostalgia. 

For more information, visit www.coldtearestaurant.com

Cold Tea Restaurant
1193 Granville Street, Vancouver
www.coldtearestaurant.com

If you’re looking for a bite to eat along West Broadway, check out the newly opened Once Upon A Bite – a casual eatery serving Northern-style Chinese cuisine.

Once Upon a Bite Menu

On the menu, you’ll find dumplings, buns, noodle soups, rice plates and more. They also offer meal combos which includes soup, rice or noodles with side dishes.

I was invited for a media tasting and can recommend some bites to order on your visit. These include:

Award-winning lamb meat soup (voted best authentic lamb soup in Canada)

This was a hearty bowl with excellent lamb flavour and glass noodles.

Cold jelly noodles in sesame and spicy sauce

A light, refreshing cold noodle dish with some subtle heat from the spicy sauce

Chinese chive pocket

A classic street style treat with fragrant chives and scrambled eggs.

Dumplings (beef, lamb, pork)

Beef noodle soup

Another hearty bowl option with tender cubes of beef, broccoli, cilantro and springy noodles.

Chinese burger (beef, lamb or pork)

Another street-style Chinese eat in a meat in a bun format with filling options of beef, lamb or pork.

Crispy cake

The cakes come in a few varieties: onion with ham, five-spice, white sugar, sesame sauce, or red bean paste.

All in all, Once Upon a Bite offers no-frills dining experience for simple, tasty food at reasonable prices.

Once Upon A Bite
1073 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC
www.bitemore.ca