Retiring this Blog for now

You can visit me at Foodosophy where I post as gastronomy domine.

Hakkasan

From Hakkasan

Hakkasan came from the dissolution of the partnership at Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine. One of the original business partners took the sous-chef with her and opened this restaurant with nearly the exact same concept - homestyle Chinese food served in a western fine dining context. The concept even extends to the odd location: a industrial and warehousing district close to the Ikea in Richmond.

The menu is very similar...right down to the garlic lobster and the use of whelk.




Hakkasan serves homestyle Hakka food. This cuisine is the food of the diasporic Han tribe from the middle of China. The Han migrated to the southern regions of China (Fujian, Gunagdong) and over time, this cuisine evolved.

This food is rustic and "homestyle" and I find it incongruent with the high-style concept that Hakkasan is proposing. However, I often have to remind myself that other cuisines have had this kind of elevation - the French, for example, have been serving homestyle food at high-end restuarants for a couple of hundred years. I don't bat an eye when I am charged $30 for a plateful of ratatouille, for example.

Chinese food to me is about value...and to me Hakkasan does not provide that value. I hold Chinese food to a higher "bang-for-the-buck" standard than pretty much all other cuisine. That is why I walked away disappointed after my trip to Hakkasan in Richmond. The food was fantastic, the service was great, but the prices....oy!



The best dish of the evening was the homestyle braised pork hock. This dish was braised in a "red-braise" style and had lots of delicious, buttery, melting fat.



All in all...the meal was delicious....but overpriced.

Dolce Amore

From Dolce Amore

Vancouver is blessed with some great gelato and lucky for me, some of the best is served right in my neighbourhood. Commercial Drive has long been the center of all things Italian in this city - so it shouldn't be a surprise that a great gelateria is located right here.

Dolce Amore is owned and run by the coffee roasting Grippo family. The gelato has a great creamy texture and intense, concentrated flavour. Today I had the green apple - tart and just a hint of sweetness. The scent of apple bursts through after the first bite.