Vancouver's best Xiao long Bao (Chinese dumplings), and GO!

After visiting China last year, and then not having any good Chinese restaurants near our home, we are really looking forward to finding some good Asian food in Vancouver. I'd love to get a local's take on where to go for the best XLB! We will be spending 3 days pre-cruise downtown at the Marriott Pinnacle, but we don't mind if it requires a short taxi/subway ride. Thanks!

We usually go to these places for XLB and correspondingly northern Chinese. (Dim sum, Cantonese, noodles, congee, bakeries, etc are a whole other ball of wax of course.)

Dinesty: It's a successful small local chain. They've got a location on Robson that'll be one of the easiest to get to. It's one of the nicer and slightly more pricier places on the list but still very casual. Very good XLB. They have a decent overall menu.

Lin's: It's a bit of a hole in the wall located just outside the downtown core near Broadway and Granville. You can take a number of buses from the downtown core across the Granville street bridge. The XLB here are decent but there are also some favourites on the rest of the menu.

Long's Noodle House: It's another inexpensive hole in the wall with tight/awkward seating on Main near 33rd. It's a bit of a trek but you should be able to take a single bus (#3 Main) to get to it. I really like the XLB here. (The banh mi at Au Petit Cafe next door is also top notch.)

Shanghai Morning: This is a place along a restaurant row on Alexandra Road in Richmond. You can take the skytrain down to Richmond but it's another 10 minute walk to the restaurant. The XLB here is good but I'm not sure if it's worth the trek from downtown unless you have other activities in Richmond.

Peaceful is another successful small local chain. I've never gotten around to trying them but their reviews are generally good. They've got a couple of locations downtown but I think the Robson one would also be one of the easiest to get to for you.

AFAIK, that's Shanghai cuisine (or at least made popular/refined by Shanghai). It's not a staple of Cantonese food.

Shanghai River on Westminster Highway in Richmond is another place to go. Place gets crowded (or used to) o book ahead, though you may have to wait even if you book (guarantees a place in line).

Great suggestions so far.... Here's some links of interest. Warning.... not all places have picture of bilingual menus. Dim Sum is a great option with the variety of food presented. You might need to add additional Vancouver days. Do make an effort to the Richmond (airport) suburbs.

http://chineserestaurantawards.com/award-winners/

wmKCc73NZLo ky8bouLbbB8

All I'll add is to confirm that Peaceful is generally good (but with the caveat that they've expanded too fast and the quality at the newest branches is not as consistent as at the original), and confirm Dinesty would be my recco. Back when the local Chinese Resto Awards had XLB as it's own category Dinesty won it IIRC.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I knew I could count on the CC community to help me out. We really want to get out to Richmond, but not sure how convenient it is to find the restaurants once we get off the Canada Line train. Wish I had a couple of extra days just to nosh my way around Vancouver! So many restaurants, so little time.