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.

Sweet Chili Cafe - Homestyle Indonesian in Vancouver

Located in the old Dona Cata location on Victoria Drive (near Kingsway), this new family run restaurant serves authentic home-style Indonesian food. Of dishes we ordered, my favourite was the Beef Rendang - the spicing was nuanced, and the beef was meltingly tender. It could have had more chili heat. We ordered it "hot" but it was "mild" to my tastes.



Other dishes worth ordering are the Laksa Ayam (which could have been hotter as well), the black rice pudding, and the tofu salad. Using the Beef Randang as my litmus-test - I can safely assume that their curries and stews will also be flavourful and authentic - albeit toned down for Western tastes. Their Roti Canai was a bit dense...lacking the requisite lightness and flakeyness.

The pricing is decent. They have "Rice Tables" - really more like combos than true rijstafels - starting from $7.50 to $8.25. Compared to Seri Malaysia on Hastings St - the servings are smaller and the prices are higher. Also, Seri Malaysia serves much more pungent and more authentic tasting dishes, in my opinion. Sweet Chile Cafe definitely pulled some punches on the spicing....still good, but could have had more of the dried and fermented seafood notes.

I do have one other quibble: They serve all their dishes on plastic plates and use plastic utensils. It cheapens the experience and it isn't very eco-friendly. I gave them my disapproval verbally...hopefully, they will stop using disposable settings.

Osake - Vancouver's own Artisinal Sake Maker

I love sake...especially the good stuff. I just thought I'd share some photos from my most recent visit to Osake - the sake studio on Railspur Ave at Granville Island.



After brokering and supplying Japanese breweries and sake makers with brewing equipment exported from Canada, Masa Shiroki decided to give sake making a shot himself. He finally opened this studio early last year after some bureaucratic hoop-jumping involving inflexible and antiquated liquor and food service laws.

He has three types of sake:

• Junmai Nama Nigori - an unfiltered (cloudy), fruity number
• Junmai Nama - a clear (filtered) sake which reminds me of a riesling
• Junmai Nama Genshu - a high test clear sake - at 18% alcohol

Like most aficionados, I prefer good sake served cold. You can sample Osake's offerings here at the studio where they do flights and at various Japanese establishments all over town - namely Kingyo, Blue Water Cafe, and Tojo's.

The Asian Food Court at Richmond Public Market

From Richmond Publ...

The two best Asian food courts in the Greater Vancouver Area are in Crystal Mall and at the Richmond Public Market. Crystal Mall's Food Court is much more accessible to the gastrotourist by transit (just a few Skytrain stops to Metrotown Station from downtown)....however, RPM's Food Court probably has a more varied selection of obscure regional Chinese fare.

In North America, this type of food - usually street food - is probably best served from a food court stall where the financial overhead makes it possible to survive. Some of these stalls have been here for years. Had they been full-service restuarants (and despite the apetite for Asian foods here in Vancouver), they would have closed down in short order.


The most famous of all North American Asian Food Courts is the Main St Asian Food Courts in Flushing (Queens), New York, where a huge population of Chinese Mainlanders have immigrated.





I recommend trying the Malaysian (for the curry combos), Xi'an, Tian Jing (for the steamed bao) Xin Jiang (Islamic Chinese streetfood), and Sichuan Stalls.

The Xin Jiang stall, in particular, serves delicious, cheap cumin lamb skewers.






It's a real treat to order one small dish from a selection of stalls. The prices are incredibly cheap.

Golden Phoenix: Our "Go To" Dim Sum place

From Golden Phoenix

Golden Phoenix is a just a few minutes from our house. The dim sum here is fresh and creative....and as a bonus....they still serve much of it from carts. A rare beast these days. Carts are slowly disappearing in favour of order cards.




My daughter's favourite dish is deep fried spicy squid. We always order that for her. This one has a nice crunch and heat. The dish is also dim sum size so she can eat the whole thing.




Many of their dishes are not on the menu. Reserve some space and wait for one of the cart or tray ladies to come out with something new.

Golden Phoenix
2425 Nanaimo, Vancouver

Tel: (604) 253-6183

Obsession: Dan Dan Mian, Part Two

These are my three favorite Dan Dan Noodles in the Greater Vancouver Area:

The fiery hot "Chengdu" Dan Dan at Szechwan Restaurant in Richmond. Authentic tasting - earthy-toasty from the cooked dried chili, blazing hot, lots of ma la and not a hint of sweetness.





The thick, dark, toasted sesame rendition from The Place Restaurant. This could actually be my real favorite of the bunch. It is similar but less sweet to the dish they used to serve at Lin's.




The Dan Dan at Northern Delicacy at Aberdeen Center in Richmond. The soup is a thin, but flavourful sesame-based broth. The black sesame seeds impart a nice nutty-sweet tone to the dish

Random Image - Fries on Jericho Beach

Happy Canada Day

I'm not nationalistic at all (or at least I try to pretend I'm not), but I'm glad to be a Canadian.

Authentic Sichuan Restaurant Found!

r

I don't know how this place eluded my radar for so long....but I'm glad I finally found it. It is tucked away in a non-descript strip mall on Saba Road which is next to the Richmond Public Market. I guess I never drive down this road or else I would have spotted it.

I have long complained that the GVA does not have a good Sihcuan food scene. Sure you can get a few exemplary Sichuan dishes from certain pan-regional Chinese restaurants (Peaceful, The Place) and at some Food Court stalls at Crystal Mall and at the Richmond Public Market, but I have yet to see a true Sichuan restaurant here. I have been to many of the more well known and purported authentic places like Golden Szechuan (a Richmond heavyweight) and Ba Guo Bu Yi (a hole in the wall on Park Rd, also in Richmond)...but upon repeat visits, I found them all lacking.

Near my home is Szechuan Chongqing, a restaurant my parents and I have dined in for decades. We have been eating there since they were in their original location on Victoria Drive at Broadway. Here, I fell in love with Chinese food....specifically, its particular kind of Sichuan cuisine. Just ot be clear, I don't consider restaurants like Szechuan Chongqing a authentic Sichuan restuarant. These types of places (there are a number of them in the GVA), I consider "Nixon-era Szechuan."

In 1972 Richard Nixon went to China and raised North American awareness of all things Chinese. Shortly after his visit, hundreds of "Szechaun" and "Hunan" restaurants opened up all over the US and Canada. For the most part, this ersatz Sichuan food was a revelation to most North Americans. They didn't think Chinese food could taste this way. The cuisine that evolved out of this era has persisted and continues to inform much of Sichuan and Hunan cooking till today.

But I digress...



On Saba road is Szechwan Restuarant (note that third spelling of Sichuan). The place is clearly a premium restaurant with some old-school Chinese decorsuch as lacquered tables and chairs, nice ceramic table settings, etc. Upon sitting down at my table, I perused the menu and I was impressed with the breadth and depth of the items. I have never seen some of these dishes outside of Sichuan province. The dishes were not cheap - they are charging premium prices (similar to Kirin and that ilk)

I chatted up the manager. He confirmed that they have an true Sichuan chef. Most of their cooks are also from the Sichuan province.

Sadly, I was alone and I was only able to try a couple of dishes. I chose two of my litmus-tests: Dan Dan Mian, and Sichuan Wonton in Chili sauce. I ordered them both at "medium" heat knowing how hot Sichuan food can be.



When my dishes came, I was overjoyed. The Dan Dan Mian tasted like the ones back in Chengdu. The earthy-toasted flavour of the Chilies dominated this dish. It did not taste like any of the Dan Dan Mian I have had here in Vancouver. I have had a true Dan Dan Mian only once before in North America - at a long forgotten restaurant in Los Angeles many years ago. Even at medium heat, it was blazing hot. The Wonton had the same ferocity of chili heat. I finished my meal with a complimentary sweet fermented rice wine with Goji berries.



I am dying to come back. I will bring a few friends so I can be guaranteed to try some of my other favorite Sichuan dishes.

Lime Restaurant

From Lime on Comme...

I returned to Lime for the first time in months. I dined a bunch of times in a flurry when they first opened and I had been meaning to go back.

My wife and I ordered the sashimi (stunning, amazing, fresh, expertly cut), lobster salad, some izakaya-esque kitchen dishes (an avocado rice crispy croquette), zarusoba which uses their own housemade, handcut 100% buckwheat soba noodles (they are the only place in Vancouver that makes their own soba, AFAIK), fresh oysters, and some cocktails.

The service from both the chefs and our waitress was excellent. We paid no cover charge (they often charge this when they have performers).

Lime is easily in the same league as the top sushi places in town, IMO...this night it became my favourite destination sushi in Vancouver. Lime is not inexpensive - you pay top dollar to dine here...but it is definitely worth it. Make sure to sit at the raw bar to catch the chefs in action - it is a sight to behold.

Lime - Japanese Cuisine

1130, Commercial Dr.

Vancouver BC

Kaplan's Star Deli

From Kaplan's

I thought I would take a break from my usual Asian dining and go for something a bit different (for me, anyway). My wife suggested "deli" and I immediately thought of Kaplan's.

Kaplan's isn't exactly "chowish" in price and ambiance. It is, however, definitely a one-stop shop for all the Jewish deli meat favorites. You can even get a sort of a sampler plate called the Triplet, where you can have three meats (corned beef, pastrami, and chopped liver) on mini challah buns. The Triplet is what I decided to order. My wife had a Montreal Smoked Meat (flown in once a week) sandwich which had a generous helping of meat. The sandwiches were filling and the coleslaw was excellent.

The prices are a little high ($9-$13 range) compared to an authentic deli like Schwartz's in Montreal where they charge about $5 for the same sandwich. Still...it hit the spot.

Pics http://picasaweb.google.com/gustibus....

Xiao Long Bao

I'm not sure exactly when Xiao Long Bao became A Big Thing. I vaguely remember having it for the first time in San Francisco when my parents drove us all down for a trip to Disneyland many years ago. When I first bit into one, the juices squirted down my chin and made a mess of my T-shirt. A right of passage.



Over the years, I have seen it on menus, ordered it once in a while, but I never thought much of it. The last couple of years, I started reading food blogs and forums. I was surprised to see that these soup dumplings have taken on a mythical status. XLB became a beast worthy of a hunt. To many, it was the sine qua non of a city's Chinese cuisine. Without good XLB in your city, some say, then the Chinese food there must not be worth eating. Hyperbole, of course.

In Vancouver, the Chinese food scene has been dominated for decades by Cantonese style food. Since the relatively recent opening up of China, we have seen a great influx of Chinese immigrants from different parts of of this huge country. Some of them - mainly Northern Chinese and Shanghainese - brought their dumpling and XLB making skills to our shores.

The some of the best XLB in town are served in little holes in the wall like Wang's at the Food Court in Burnaby's Crystal Mall. The bigger dim sum places also serve it, albeit at higher prices and often, at lower than exemplary quality.

Here's a video from a recent trip to Wang's:

Wang's - Destination XLB in Burnaby

From Wang's Shangh...

I decided to visit Wang's today over lunch hour to update my XLB photos. The last time I was there was a few months ago (I posted my field trip to Crystal Mall with my two daughters here on CH). I had used the camera built-in to my Blackberry. The images were blurry and didn't do the subject matter justice.

I recently picked up a new digital camera (a Fuji Finepix FZ20)....what a huge difference in quality. Not surprising I guess. In any case, I managed to get some great photos and even some video of the XLB and XLB ladies at Wang's. I need to figure out how I am going to post the video, but for now...some photos.

Back on topic...

The XLB was excellent....perhaps equaling or topping my current favorite XLB at Lin Chinese Cuisine. The skin was very thin, the broth was flavourful and the pork ball was light. It only lost points for not having slivered ginger with their black vinegar (though it perhaps didn't really need it). It is also the most inexpensive XLB in the GVA at $3.25 per steamer of five.

I thought these new photos and Wang's by itself warranted a new topic outside of my current XLB Survey thread. They two ladies pictured are the two top XLB makers in the the GVA. The lady on the right has been making XLB for decades. Her rolling and pleating technique was amazing - completely effortless.

From downtown Vancouver, it only takes about 20-25 minutes to get to Crystal Mall on the Skytrain...well within the time constraints of a typical lunch hour. (Considering it only takes about 5 minutes to order and eat these babies).

Pics http://picasaweb.google.com/gu

Obsession: Dan Dan Mian Survey, Part One

I first fell for this dish (and Sichuan food) over 25 years ago at Szechuan Chongqing Restuarant in Vancouver's east side. We had "Tan Tan Noodles" every time we dined there over the last few decades. We were addicted. I introduced my soon-to-be wife to this dish and she too fell in love with it....probably more than I do.

Since then, my appreciation and knowledge of sichuan food has grown to be more sophisticated and I have come to realize that Szechuan Chongqing's rendition of these noodles is not authentic. Szechuan Chongqing's version of this dish is an "Americanized" peanutty concoction of noodles, peanut butter, chilis, garlic, and assorted other flavourings.

Dan Dan Mian (also called "Tan Tan Noodles") have two canonical "authentic" versions, both of which are outlined by Fuschia Dunlops excellent book The Land of Plenty. The two canonical styles are: the "Traditional Dan Dan Noodles" in the Chengdu style and the "Xie Laoban's Dan Dan Noodles". The difference between the two is in the sauce.

Tradition Dan Dan Mian has a tart, vinegary chili oil sauce that have the requisite ingredient: sichuan peppercorn.Without this peppercorn the dish just does not taste right. Xie Laoban's version has a thin sesame paste sauce with the same types of flavourings as the Tranditional version.



The Tradition Dan Dan Mian looks similar to this one from Golden Szechuan in Richmond. BC:


Note the thin, oily sauce with peanuts and pork. This particular restuarant, however, did not go far enough...more on that later.



Xie Laobon's version looks similar to this one from The Place Restaurant in Vancouver BC



This version uses a deep, toasted sesame paste as a flaovour base.



The third "inuathentic" version - the peanutty Americanized Dan Dan Noodle looks like this from Ba Guo Bu Yi in Richmond BC:



Peanut butter provides this version with a sweet creaminess that is irresistable to peanut butter fans (such as my wife).

to be continued....

Photo Essay: Pastry Heaven - Our trip to Thomas Haas

Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie

128-998 Harbourside Drive
North Vancouver, BC V7P 3T2, Canada
(604) 924-1847
Get directions

Song Huong - My Family's "Go To" Pho

Song Huong across from Bon's on Broadway on Nanaimo used to be our "go-to" Pho restaurant. Recently, they opened a second location much closer to my home near Nanaimo and First Ave.

The proprietors are from Hue in central Vietnam. Consequently, their style of pho is lighter and more clear than the usual dark and aromatic pho from the south. Their signature dish, however, is their bun ba mon - a bowl of vermicelli with an assortment of beef "sausages".



This dish comes with a strongly flavouored mam nem dipping sauce.. Mam nem is essentially unfiltered nuoc nam. The flavour reminds me of bagna cauda - the Italian anchovy, butter and gralic based dipping sauce.

Song Huong
2408 Nanaimo Street

Vancouver, BC V5N 5E4, Canada

(604) 251-1151‎
Map

My Chao Vietnamese Restuarant - Pho Ga Specialists

As much as I love pho bo (beef pho) , sometimes I seek something lighter. My default non-pho Vietnamese dish is bun...however, today, I was at My Chao. I had intended to try their bun so I can include it in my survey...however, this place is well known for its pho ga -- "chicken pho" with their special fried chicken.

My Chao is a Northern Vietnamese pho restaurant. A relative rarity in Vancouver where the pho scene is dominated by pho from the South. Norhtern pho (including the pho bo) is lighter and less redolent of the sweet spices that characterize pho as most of us know it - cloves, cinammon, star anise. The side dish of herbs includes ram rau - a herb not often seen in town.




My Chao is also known for their fried chicken, Vietnamese style. Tender and moist meat with a thin golden skin. Amazing.




This place was packed today.

Pho ga has a very light stock and and the noodles were fresh and tender. The stock was so light, it was refreshing.

Hue Regional Vietnamese Cuisine at Co Do

From Co Do

In my first time at Co Do, I was there to try their bun. Upon scanning their menu, I noticed some interesting menu items that were unusual for a typical Vietnamese pho restaurant. I thought that they must be regional cuisine, so I asked the proprietors where they where from in Vietnam. They told me that they were from Hue - a city in the central Vietnam which also happens to be the former dynastic capital of feudal Vietnam. The cuisine from Hue was heavily influenced by the kitchens of the royal courts and is distinct from the cuisines from the North and the South. I had already ordered my bun, so I promised myself to come back soon to try these interesting looking items.

Today I came back and brought a food loving friend. We ordered bahn ram banh it (shrimp paste with rice ball on top of crispy rice cake; banh canh tom cua bot loc (a fish, crab, shimp, tapioca noodle soup; bahn nam (banana leaf wrapped shrimp paste, pork and rice paste) and banh uot (rice flour cakes with shrimp paste).

This meal was all Texture because of what we decided to order -- the dishes were all unusually glutinous. Next time I come here, I will bring a couple more friends so I can contrast these dishes with some grilled items, fresh salad items, and some deep fried items....and perhaps a bowl of bun bo Hue (the most well known Hue dish). There were only two of us and we were committed to giving these dishes a try. Carrying onwards....

The soup had a flavourful and starch-thickend fish broth, yellow and earth with turmeric. The tapioca noodles were quite gelatinous. It had pieces of fresh crab, shrimp, and sliced eel.

The bahn nam was very similar to a Filipino rice tamale. The shrimp and pork paste was subtley spiced and benefited from the nuoc nam - based dipping sauce.

The banh ram banh it was an appetizer sized order that looked almost like a scallop dish. The fried rice cake's texture contrasted nicely with the glutinous rice ball.

The banh uot was a platter full of the rice cakes topped with the dried shrimp paste and Vietnamese ham. It too came with a nuoc nam dipping sauce.

Once again, I would not order a meal with just this set of dishes....this particular meal was purely experimental. I would choose one or two of these dishes and fill out the rest of the order with other items. Co Do also does a great bun and from all accounts a great pho....however, make sure to give the Hue dishes a try if you do decide to pop in.

Co Do
950 Kingsway Vancouver BC