Another restaurant that I dined out at in the past few weeks with my grass 4s volleyball team was James on Hastings. Located in a small strip mall on East Hastings at the corner of Slocan, this Chinese restaurant apparently closed due to a fire and then reopened again only a short time ago. James, the owner of the restaurant, provides really friendly service with his staff, the food is great, and the place is open late!
Even when we arrived after 9 pm one Thursday, the restaurant was bustling with Asian families, and almost every seat was full. Luckily, there was just enough space for the 8 of us that evening around the last remaining large circular table.
We decided to choose a large variety of dishes, including the set Dinner for 4, plus multiple additions, and then got ready to feast on our multi-course meal! As there is no website up, make sure to grab a menu when you’re in the restaurant next (they do delivery and takeout as well), and you’ll have to work with the one shot that I managed to grab in the meantime of the group dinner options.
The Duck Two Ways was served with soft wraps, peking duck style, as well as in lettuce wrap format. Always a fun way to eat with your hands!
Duck Wraps 
Duck Lettuce Wraps 
One of my favourite dishes of the evening was the Beef Brisket Curry, a very flavourful dish with tender, fall apart in your mouth meat.
Beef Brisket Curry 
An award-winning specialty for James on Hastings is their Live Crab in House Special Sauce (I’m assuming that they just mean it’s live until they prepare it for your meal in particular 
). Deep fried and extremely flavourful, everyone at the table thoroughly enjoyed this dish and didn’t mind having to dig in and really get their hands dirty in the process!
House Special Deep Fried Crab 
The Soft Shortribs in Chef’s Special Sauce was a bit on the sweeter side for my liking, but I don’t tend to enjoy Asian savoury dishes that are too sweet (only desserts)!
Soft Shortribs in Chef’s BBQ Sauce 
Since we had ordered so much food, it was a bit difficult to really dig into the House Special Fried Rice, but we still managed to make a solid dent in the dish.
House Special Fried Rice 
One of the more unique dishes was the Beef with Mango & Fresh Asparagus. I do have to admit that I’m not so sure about this one though. Although I absolutely love mango, the combination of sweetness with the beef was interesting, but not something I would have again.
Beef with Fresh Mango and Asparagus 
The Sweet and Sour Pork was not the usual westernized version of the dish that you usually find in Vancouver, but a more solid rendition that I enjoyed much more. I generally shy away when I hear about something like ‘sweet and sour’ anything, but as far as sweeter main dishes go, this one was definitely the best one of the evening.
Sweet and Sour Pork 
As if we weren’t already full enough, we decided to have a round of the Ginger and Yam dessert that came with our Dinner for 4 order.
Ginger and Yam Dessert 
And here is our volleyball team, before we ate too much and couldn’t play anymore…;)
Grass Volleyball Team 
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the meal at James on Hastings, and would come back again with a large group. James and the rest of the staff were very friendly, and the food was great to fill our tummies after a long night of ball.
James on Hastings
2683 E Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V5K3W8
(604) 255-3188
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