Mark Laba
Province

I always thought Saint Valentine was a guy but you could’ve slapped me upside the head with a dead platypus and I wouldn’t have been more stunned after a recently discovered picture found in a cave beneath the Vatican.

Turns out ol‘ Valentine is a gal and bears a striking resemblance to Shelley Winters circa The Poseidon Adventure, complete with a feather boa and fake eyelashes you could use as souvlaki skewers. Ah well, confirmed my suspicions that Valentine’s Day is the work of the female mind created to inflict pain on the male species to get them back for Super Bowl weekend. Lull them into a sense of well-being and then BAM, beat them over the head with all things sweet and saccharine, and force them to find the one romantic bone in their body that doesn’t need the help of Viagra.

On that note, it’s time to tap your inner Romeo and take the spouse, the girlfriend, the boyfriend, the lover or the rebounder out for a dinner and show them you care, which you can start by remembering to do up your zipper. Here’s a bunch of suggestions that I’ve divided into categories to make it easier.

The Latin Lover

La Terrazza

This beautiful room that strikes the perfect balance between elegance and opulence will put you in the romantic mood in zero-to-60 seconds flat and have you pulling a Gomez Addams nibbling his way up the arm of his beloved Morticia, gawkers notwithstanding. Offering a decadent Valentine’s four-course feast for $88.88 per person and showcasing dishes like Carpaccio al Bosco with thinly sliced beef tenderloin dressed up with black-truffle vinaigrette to start followed by stuffed crab and prawn pasta envelopes, some spiffy entrée selections next from lobster to steak and decadent desserts to follow.

1088 Cambie St., Vancouver, 604-899-4449

The French Factor

Elixir

No one knows naughtiness like the French, which is strange from a culture that reveres Jerry Lewis. Nevertheless one only has to look at the wife of the French president to understand that the Gallic sensibility looks for sexiness with a touch of class rather than sexiness with a touch of implants.

So, hit Elixir, this bordello meets bistro for a four-course Parisian-inspired menu celebrating l’amour avec credit limit. Actually at $75 per person this is a great deal, with dishes like lobster, grapefruit and truffle salad, pheasant breast, piquillo pepper and spot prawn saucisse with saffron and parmesan gnocchi and a chocolate fondue for two to finish things off. Sultry, sexy and sumptuous, which I believe is the equivalent of the three R’s in France.

360 Davie St. in the Opus Hotel, Vancouver, 604-642-0557

Love Bites

Tapastree

With the amount of tapas joints in this city, you might actually believe tapas do grow on trees but this relatively unsung and one of the originators of the tapas craze in the city is still whipping up delectable sharing plates. Truly a tapestry of tastes in this quiet, snug and romantic hideaway offering up a wonderful Valentine’s Day menu. $60 per person for an exemplary offering of dishes in which fingers are sure to mingle and perhaps even stab each other with forks reaching for the last morsel on the plate. Think roasted beet salad with hazelnuts and goat cheese, Dungeness crab cakes with spicy remoulade, baked scalloped ‘taters with emmenthal, braised veal cheeks, seared ling cod and a special dessert.

1829 Robson St., Vancouver, 604-606-4680

downtown don juan

Chow

The clean line modernity of the South Granville nip-and-tuck brigade culminates in a beautiful space that throws you a little wood, a little steel and a little leather, the three major food groups for the contemporary designer. The food follows suit, offering up that West Coast cuisine that comes from living on the edge of a continental plate. A five-course Valentine’s affair is being offered from the 13th-15th and boasts some great creations like oysters two ways, pan-seared ling cod with crushed potatoes, chorizo, Brussels sprouts and manila clams, braised pork belly with polenta, rapini, cipollini onions, black olive, tomato and thyme sauce and a couple of swanky desserts to boot.

3121 Granville St., Vancouver, 604-608-2469

Coast

Seafood always seems to be numero uno on the list of aphrodisiacs lovers’ menus, which is always puzzling to me because I’ll take Hostess Twinkies as a prelude to lovemaking over oysters any day. I always say if edible chemicals and hydrogenated fats can’t give you stamina and set the mood then you have no place living in the modern world. But for those who desire a throwback to the catalysts of more earthly desires, this swanky joint doesn’t disappoint with a fabulous seafood menu bound to inspire. As well, Coast is offering its Aphrodisiacs’ Menu all week long from Feb. 9-15. $65 per person nets you a half dozen West Coast oysters, poached jumbo prawn cocktail, Nova Scotia lobster risotto, seared beef tenderloin with king crab and a quince-caramel tarte tartin with spiced cider cinnamon heart crusted vanilla ice cream. Rounding out the evening the restaurant will present every table with an envelope. Inside three envelopes will be the gift of a free evening at the Sutton Place, Hotel Vancouver or Le Soleil Hotel. Other envelopes will contain various other goodie giveaways. So when you’re caught necking on the street and someone yells “Hey, get a room,” you can potentially flash them your envelope and say “Hey, we already do.”

1257 Hamilton St., Vancouver, 604-685-5010

Country Casanova

Roast Bistro & Grill

This quaint little spot is garnering a lot of praise lately and though folks are going gaga for the pulled-pork sandwich this chef is proving himself more than a one-pig pony. Some very spiffy fare is finding its way out of the kitchen here without sacrificing a certain level of home comfort and down-home charm you don’t always find in the city and the Valentine’s Day menu is proving the point in food and in price. $24 per person gets you a four-course meal with soup, salad, dessert and some fine entrée selections. Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, pecan-crusted chicken breast, a grilled steak or pasta shindig all made with the same tenderness you’d show your loved one except everyone keeps their pants on in this case.

#110-22456 Lougheed Hwy., Maple Ridge, 604-467-6278

The Bedford House

You wouldn’t think that such a stately manor was built by the town butcher back in 1904. But it was and some still say that the original Haldi family still wander the hallways in their ghostly way, haunting the house and cadging free drinks. Anyway, couldn’t ask for a lovelier setting for Valentine’s Day in this heritage house and though there isn’t a specific menu for the evening the à la carte offerings are sure to satisfy and the setting set the mood for some fondling and food.

9272 Glover Rd., Fort Langley, 604-888-2333

© Copyright (c) The Province

Shops serving the Japanese noodle dishes seem to be proliferating in Vancouver

Mia Stainsby
Sun

MENYA JAPANESE NOODLE

401 West Broadway, 604-873-3277

– – –

There’s ramen and there’s ramen, apparently. At Menya Japanese Noodle it’s the Kyushu kind where the broth is somewhat milky from the pork bones and marrow. “Around Tokyo, the soup is clear,” says owner Shuichi Hara, who went back to his native Japan “to study ramen for five years.”

When I asked where he studied ramen, he laughed. “I worked for my mother-in-law. She has three, four restaurants.”

In Japan, ramen is a popular fast food. “Like hamburger is here,” he says. “Western people eat hamburger, we eat ramen, even in summer.” But in Vancouver, sushi seems to have overtaken hamburgers as the iconic everyday food.

Judging by the accelerated openings, ramen shops seem to be making inroads in the last year. Motomachi Shodudo on Denman (where a pinch of charcoal powder for digestion and cleansing turns the broth slightly grey) and Benkei Noodle Shop on Robson were a couple of ramen newcomers in the past year. Shogun, downtown, has had a full house at lunch for years and Kintaro, on Denman, has the same at dinner.

Actually, when you think of all the instant ramen noodles sold (ever heard of Mr. Noodle or Sapporo Ichiban?), you have to wonder if it’s not rivalling Kraft Dinner in the world of instant food. I know when I’m backpacking, I’m a sucker for instant ramen.

At Menya, diners hunch over enormous bowls of noodles. The Kyushi-style noodles aren’t as kinky (as in curled) as other ramen noodles. They’re also thinner, “like angel hair [pasta],” says Hara, who has a local company make them to his specifications. The Nagasaki Chanpon dish is a particularly full load with meat, seafood and veggies. The Ramen “set” will get you ramen, gyoza (freshly made) and a rice ball. For those who don’t eat meat, there’s a soba noodle dish made with fish stock.

The cost of the dishes is in line with recessionary times. A bowl of noodles that you won’t be able to finish, without bringing larger-sized clothing, costs about $7.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Restaurant breaks free from the stodgy, same old, same old fare of competitors

Mia Stainsby
Sun

PIATO ESTIATORIO

Overall 3 1/2

Food 3 1/2

Ambience 3 1/2

Service 3 1/2

1835 West Fourth Ave., 604-568-2929. Open for lunch and dinner, daily. www.piato.ca.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

– – –

A few weeks ago, we visited my husband’s irrepressibly opinionated uncle in Washington and took some take-out souvlaki for a visit over lunch. He was not amused. The beef was tough and he was absolutely right. I’d found the place on the Web; it came with huzzahs and I was led astray, all right? We heard about the tough meat for the remainder of the visit and I do believe the owner of the restaurant probably did, too. One quarter Greek, the uncle has strong opinions on what Greek food should be and pressed me to write a scathing review of it.

I wonder what he’d say about Piato Estiatorio (“plate restaurant,” if directly translated) in Kitsilano?

It’s not the usual cookie-cutter Greek restaurant; it’s climbed out of the ditch Greek food has been stuck in since the ’70s in Vancouver. I’ve always held out for Harry Kambolis (of C, Raincity, Nu restaurants and possessor of Greek genes) or his mother (a very good Greek cook and restaurant operator) to do something about it.

I still hope the Kambolis family steps up to the plate, but in the meantime, we have Piato where checkerboard tablecloths, white-washed walls with azure trim and creeping ivy have been eschewed for a clean, modern look and yes, there are photographs of Greece on the wall, but these are more arty, in black and white.

Best of all, the food is not stodgy or the same old, same old fare. The menu circles around the old standards but dishes are tweaked and lighter; and there are surprises like mini-gyros filled with pulled short rib and tomato salsa; marinated ahi tuna with citrus fennel slaw; salt cod with skordalia and roasted beets; “Greek” fries; and zucchini and eggplant chips.

The cooking is family style — but a family of good cooks. A pleasant surprise was the wine list which featured about 17 Greek wines or about half the list. Yes, Boutari is on the roll call but it’s a much better grade than what the LCB had us believing to be typical of Greek wines.

Only one dish over two visits got a failing grade. That was grilled quail marinated in tzatziki, a wizened and unappealing dish. But Piato does the best tzatziki ever, so rich and creamy. We tried both the trio of dips (tzatziki, white bean hummus, and spicy feta) and a taster trio of soups (white bean, lentil with Greek spices, and avgolemono), which for $7 you can’t beat.

Southern spinach pie is different from the usual spanokopita — it’s called saites and is flatter and denser than the one we know. Grilled calamari were tender and fresh; bacalao (salt cod with skordalia and roasted beets) was tasty and the skordalia wasn’t made to fight off vampires. The garlic is tame. Vegetarian moussaka is assembled with a light touch. As for the pork and lamb souvlaki, I think the uncle would give it a passing grade but not a high one. It was a messy arrangement with the souvlaki skewers sitting atop tzatziki and tomato salsa which sat atop quartered pita which was pale and soft.

The drizzles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on some of the plates were good quality, tasty products. For dessert, the rice pudding had a seductive creamy texture, but fussy me, I wanted just another note, maybe of vanilla or cardamom or even honey. Galaktoboureko is fancied up bougatsa. While you can eat bougatsa, with custard enveloped in protective layers of phyllo, walking down the street, you need a fork to eat this dessert with the big long name — it’s all about the custard.

Actually, I don’t know if the uncle would be happy here. There’s just not enough to complain about.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Superb flavours, lava trails of spicey sauces . . . and that wasabi!

Mark Laba
Province

Shuraku Sake Bar & Bistro

Where: 833 Granville St.

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-687-6622

Drinks: Fully licensed.

Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 11:45 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat., noon-midnight, Sun., noon-11 p.m.

Just like the Cheers theme, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came and your troubles are all the same except for the guy with the tinfoil hat and welding goggles you just saw on Granville Street. At least that’s the way it seems when you’ve joined the izakaya craze and the greetings come fast as a shogun’s blade as you walk through the door.

Of course, it’s in Japanese and they aren’t really saying your name, but the general air of camaraderie is enough to make even the most cynical take heart, ready to seek solace in a pint of Sapporo, a cup of sake, a plate of sushi and some grilled meat morsels, meditatively masticated in an ambience that hugs you like an old lunatic uncle who disappeared years ago, only to reappear as if only a week has gone by and though you barely know him he’s still family and there’s an odd warmth to his mothball-scented body.

So, Peaches and I got our greeting, leaving us warm and fuzzy as we were shown to a booth seat in this hipster setting. The open kitchen is up front along with the bar, backdropped by a strange curvaceous architectural construction of wood, metal, clay and bottles of sake ebbing and flowing across the wall.

Deeper into the interior is banquette seating, its length illuminated by a long horizontal backlit translucent panel upon which faint grey and black designs play upon the white surface to emulate the vaporous quality of ancient Japanese landscape paintings. In a way, you could say this is a metaphor for Japanese cuisine, where flavours are just hinted at to give them a bridge into reality, their subtle natures revealed with the slightest brushstroke.

At least this is what I was so smugly thinking until I sank my teeth into the Volcano Roll ($9.50). And on that note, there’s nothing subtle about dull green wasabi kicking your nasal passages around like the Incredible Hulk.

As great as it was to eat the roll, it was also stunning to behold, shaped on the plate into a volcanic mountain with lava trails of spicy sauce running down the sides and long prongs of crispy noodle exploding upwards from the top. Inside were spicy tuna and cucumber with crunchy bonito flakes crackling the surface and on all counts this eruption was well worth braving.

Also tried a wild salmon teriyaki ($13), a daily special of edamame potato sticks ($4.20), beef-wrapped asparagus ($6.25), an order of ebi gyoza ($8.50) and a yam tempura roll ($3.25).

The wild salmon teriyaki sat atop a pillow of crispy rice that was great, the saucing was subtle but the salmon was a tad overcooked. As for the edamame ‘tater creation wrapped in a spring roll carapace with three types of dipping sauces — cheese, spicy ketchup and a mayo-ketchup mixture — this was deep-fried perfection and a textural journey from crispy to soft to crunchy all in one bite.

Now it’s always been my motto if you don’t like your veggies then wrap them in meat and the beef asparagus with its light dribbling of soy was OK, although the meat, although thinly sliced was tougher than a Yakuza sent to collect a gambling debt. The tempura roll was OK, but the ebi gyoza were outstanding, filled with a succulent mix of pork, shrimp and chicken.

Eclecticism built on the back of familiarity is the recipe for this place, evident both in the names of dishes and ingredients. Check out the Pink Igloo or the Enchanted Forest Rolls, the Renkon Hasami Age with shrimp sandwiched between slices of crunchy lotus root, wrapped with nori and deep-fried or the Samurai Champloo with cubed fried tofu, kimchee and kikurage mushrooms tossed in a miso-spiked spicy meat sauce. Hey, you’ll be glad you came even if they don’t know your name and after enough sake you won’t remember your own name anyway.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

A sudoku for the senses, each piece fitting together expertly.

RATINGS: Food: B+ Service: A- Atmosphere: B+

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

VIP’s in West Van has won a Chinese Dish award

Mia Sta
Sun

VIP’S KITCHEN

1487 Marine Dr., West Vancouver. 604-925-1811.

– – –

Since it’s the week of Chinese New Year, I thought I’d try VIP’s Kitchen, one of the restaurants that won a Signature Chinese Dish Award earlier this month. It’s in my neighbourhood, and why not join the Very Important Person customers? Former B.C. lieutenant governor David Lam apparently is one of them, as well as celebrities from the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

Ying Huan Lin has been operating in this Ambleside location for the past seven years and specializes in Chiuchow cuisine, noted for its lightness and emphasis on seafood.

It is VIP’s grilled clams that won in the Clams category. These are steamed and accompanied by a very light Chiuchow fish sauce. Since clams have such a delicate flavour, it’s a much better approach than drowning out its flavour with heavier sauces.

“I am from Chiuchow,” says owner/chef Ying Huan Lin. “We use lot of seafood and flavour is very clear and pure. I don’t like to marinate too much. I like flavour mostly from ingredients. Keep original flavour.” He says customers come in from all parts of Metro Vancouver for the Chiuchow cuisine but says the West Vancouver market is different from Vancouver restaurants he’s worked in. “In Vancouver, on holidays, people go to restaurants. In West Vancouver, everyone goes out of town,” he says.

Another light dish is the tofu blended with prawns and deepfried. It came with an assertive chili sauce. A Chiuchow classic is oyster omelette which I found rather heavily fried in the wok. A beef dish with satay was unremarkable and soya duck needed a little more soy.

It seemed to me the strength is in the seafood here. Lin, a cheerful man, goes to Chinatown daily to shop for the restaurant (the restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and he’s there every day).

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

SUPERB SALAM: But there were so many earthly delights

Mia Stainsby
Sun

CHAU KITCHEN AND BAR

1500 Robson St., 604-682-8020.

– – –

I was getting very impatient. For years, I kvetched about the lack of the next generation of Vietnamese restaurant and dared to even hope for something like The Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, which I love.

It takes the second generation of an immigrant group to tweak and take things to the next level. In this case, it is the young Maria Huynh, who opened Chau Kitchen and Bar.

Maria’s family (excluding herself) was part of the refugee wave known as the “boat people” from Vietnam, and Huynh named the restaurant after her mother, Chau, who ran a congee cafe in an Indonesian refugee camp.

When the family arrived in Canada in the 1980s, she opened the first Vietnamese deli in Vancouver. “People in the neighbourhood would buy her meatballs so she saved enough money to open a shop,” Huynh says. Maria, who was born here, can’t imagine the hardships her parents and brothers experienced but she developed a passion for food, went to cooking school and wanted to carry on her family’s traditions.

“I want to represent Vietnamese food in a different way. I always thought someone was going to do it way before me,” she says, surprised that she’s the groundbreaker. Chau’s interior is modestly modern and service is on point. Best of all, the food is remarkable for a modestly priced restaurant. The dishes are all family recipes which she’s tweaked and she has hired the former sous chef from Mistral Bistro to add his French cooking influences.

Chau offers fantastic value. We started with a gorgeously presented prawn remoulade sitting atop persimmon “paper.” We attacked the green papaya salad which had orange zest and julienned apples giving it an even fresher feel. Basa (like a cross between sole and cod) was cooked perfectly and served with a Vietnamese caramel sauce — delicious. Specials included a delicious pork tenderloin with daikon confit and Vietnamese rice wine demi-glace. Luc la beef, sometimes referred to as “jumping beef” featured very tender beef. Huynh calls the dishes tapas but they’re too generous to really fit that category.

It’s open for lunch on weekends only thus far. But do try the pho on the lunch menu. It doesn’t get much better than this. One of the reasons is the delicious broth which is made with meat rather than bones.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Until February, reduced prix fixe menu lets you sample at a much lower cost

Mia Stainsby
Sun

2551 West Broadway, 604-739-8185. www.lumiere.ca. Open for dinner Tuesday to Sunday.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

– – –

By the time we went to Lumière, we didn’t need crampons, snow shovels or road salt to walk the streets. And the pummelling from the financial markets was beginning to feel normal. But what a time for a restaurant to be born . . . actually, make that’s born again, for Lumière had another life before this complete makeover.

Lumière faltered after chef Rob Feenie left in the very messy business divorce but owners David and Manjy Sidoo pulled off a spectacular rescue, persuading rock star — pardon me, superstar — chef Daniel Boulud to oversee the kitchen. Boulud is a New Yorker with a stable of other international restaurants, but he’s living up to his reputation of being hands-on and involved in every detail.

Executive chef Dale MacKay runs the Lumière kitchen but Boulud is in communication twice a week and works with MacKay until he’s happy with every dish. Video communication allows him to see how dishes are being prepared and how they look and how they can be improved. “It’s not because we just opened. He always knows what dishes are on in each restaurant,” MacKay says.

The verdict on the food? Pretty much spectacular with a couple of nitpicks. On my first visit, there were weak spots here and there but some of the dishes were ravishing. On a second visit, the quality was more consistently amazing.

But first, something more urgent: Until Feb. 1, given the hard knocks of snowstorms, an economy against the ropes and the annual January slowdown, Lumière’s three-course prix fixe menu is selling for $58 which is an incredible bargain. However, MacKay has cut down the number of choices from each course to keep kitchen costs down. Regular prices are $98 (three courses), $135 (six courses) and $175 (nine courses). The trio of amuse-bouches, basket of about a dozen mini-madeleines and mignardise (plate of confections) will be included as usual in the discounted price.

During our dinner, nibbling his way through the piece of slow-baked Arctic char I slipped onto his plate, my partner was impressed. “This is easily the best char I’ve had. It’s like reading a good book. I just don’t want it to end,” he moaned. He talks about scotch like that but not, typically, about fish. Another gorgeously flavourful dish was the duo of triple-A beef, a seared rib-eye and red wine-braised shortrib which looked lacquered with reduced wine sauce.

Ingredients are pristine and utterly fresh (B.C. spot prawns seemed ocean fresh); presentations are visual poetry at times (beet and vodka-cured tuna with white sturgeon caviar, baby beets and horseradish cream was one of them) but other dishes need a tweak to elevate to something special (hard-to-decipher, teeny veggies linking the prawns didn’t distinguish themselves). My Redbro chicken was spectacularly tender and delicately textured and delicious but amazingly, the shaved black truffles sandwiched between the breast meat had little flavour. I got a second opinion from across my table, thinking my truffle receptors had gone dead. But he agreed. Very little flavour. In purchasing truffles, the lack of aroma should be a giveaway.

Desserts were notably superlative (cassis poached pear carpaccio-thin and fanned out, accompanied by gingerbread and brandy custard; chocolate fondant with Sicilian pistachio ice cream; chocolate mocha bar with espresso caramel ice cream).

The dining room is well staffed and servers are good at anticipating needs and are cheerful and warmer than I remember from the olden days. Napkins are not only refolded if you leave the table, they’re replaced with fresh ones. And while one might think the little tuffet for my purse by the table is twee, I actually liked not having to fold myself in half to retrieve my purse from the floor (to get my notebook and pen). The bus people do need more training (one must not walk away when the bread she places on the plate falls off and one must not mumble).

As for the room, gone is the minimalist modern look which was criticized as being too cold by some though I’ve always been partial to a cool Zen feel. It has completely warmed up, embraced in antelope and taupe shades. The entrance is a denouement — small and curtained, my closet is bigger. But the rug is so plush, it feels like thick moss, and bright artwork adds bling to the room.

Compared to the next door sibling DB Bistro Moderne, Lumière is like Bach to DB’s Rolling Stones. If you’d like a sampling of a Boulud concerto, now’s the time at an insanely good price.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Panel picks the top signature dishes of local restaurants

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Help! That’s what’s needed in sorting out the good from the bad in the density of Chinese restaurants in Metro Vancouver. This week, we got exactly that from a panel of local Chinese food experts in awarding 23 restaurants Signature Dish Awards in 25 categories, the first of what is planned to be an annual venture. The dining public also got a chance to have their say with the Diners’ Choice Awards and cast their votes for best Chinese restaurants online. (See both sets of winning restaurants, below.)

“It was decided that the awards would be given in the same way the Chinese community chooses a restaurant, by what to eat, rather than where to eat,” judges said of the Signature Dish Awards.

Once the dishes were nominated, the seven judges ate their way through five dishes a week over 16 weeks. Here’s what the judges said about the awards:

Stephen Wong, food writer and cookbook author: “As the earliest adopters of local ingredients, Chinese chefs in Vancouver have a long history of creating signature dishes that have not only inspired the current local cuisine movement, but have gained a loyal following among visitors from across the Pacific.”

Conrad Leung, head of Asian Culinary Program at Vancouver Community College: “The rationale behind awarding signature dishes is how appropriately it defines the Chinese love for quality food and divine flavour, a passion that triumphs above other elements, such as atmosphere and service.”

B.C. Lee, Chinese community leader: “Compared to New York ,where I had coffee and sandwiches for lunch most of the time, I am totally spoiled in Vancouver where I can enjoy dim sum, congee or dumplings, northern or Cantonese Chinese noodles any day, within walking distance.”

Lee F. Man, food writer: “What I discovered, and did not surprise me, was that outside of greater China, Vancouver‘s Chinese cuisine was probably the best in the world. Demanding and informed diners, skilled and passionate restaurateurs, and engaged local media all combine to keep Vancouver standards exceedingly high.”

Bensan Li, columnist and CBC international Asian program host: “Here in Vancouver there is no shortage of skilled Chinese chefs and their scrumptious culinary creations. Their larger than life stories of how they came to this strange land, started building new dreams and new careers in their known trades with bare hands and years of experience. Little did they know, they also laid a strong foundation that flourishes in Greater Vancouver’s promising Chinese food horizon. These are true pioneers who introduced authentic Chinese cuisine to Western Canada.”

Iris Yim, senior editor, Ming Pao: “The emergence of the Signature Dish Awards is not only timely, but also the best way to pay tribute to the hard working men and women behind these divine dishes which we so much enjoy.”

Stephanie Yuen, food writer, broadcaster, restaurant consultant: “[With these awards] the Chinese culinary enjoyment will definitely expand and non-Chinese will no longer be confused by the overwhelming selection of Chinese restaurants.”

BEST SIGNATURE DISHES

MOST INNOVATIVE DISH

Guoba (crispy rice) with Salty Egg Yolk: Long’s Noodle House, 4853 Main St., 604-879-7879

Crab

Golden Dungeness Crab with Spice Salt: Ken’s Chinese Restaurant, 1097 Kingsway, 604-873-6338

King Crab

Live King Crab in 4 Courses: Excelsior Restaurant, 6340 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-278-2616

Shrimp

Sauteed Spot Prawns with Soya Sauce: Koon Bo Restaurant, 5682 Fraser St., 604-323-1218

Lobster

Lobster in Two Courses: Shiang Garden, 4540 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-273-8858

NORTHERN/SHANGHAI-STYLE

Dim Sum

Shanghai-Style Juicy Dumpling: Lin Chinese Cuisine and Tea House, 1537 West Broadway, 604-733-9696

CANTONESE/HONG KONG-STYLE

Dim Sum

Steamed Rice Rolls with Pork Liver: Shun Feng Seafood, 4380 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-304-6088

Congee

Liver and Meatball Congee: Mak’s Noodle House, 8291 Alexandra Rd., Richmond, 604-231-8141

Noodles & Rice

Beef Tendon and Won Ton Noodle Soup: Tsim Cha Noodles, 8251 Westminster Hwy., Richmond, 604-273-6288

Barbecue

Roasted Pork: Parker Place BBQ, 4380 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-233-1138

Vegetarian

Taro Hot Pot: Bo Kong, 8100 Ackroyd Rd., Richmond, 604-278-1992

Cold Appetizer

Jellied Pork: Shanghai River, 7831 Westminster Hwy., Richmond, 604-233-8885

Chinese Dessert

Golden Pumpkin with Honeyed Walnut: Yan’s Garden Restaurant, 9948 Lougheed Hwy., Burnaby, 604-421-8823

Chinese Pastry

Apple Tart: New Town Bakery, 158 East Pender St., 604-681-1828

Soup

Wine Chicken Soup: Wonton King, 620 S.E. Marine Dr., 604-321-4433

Fish

Steamed Sable Fish in Bamboo Steamers: Sea Harbour, 3711 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-232-0816

Geoduck

Sautéed Geoduck with Mixed Vegetables: Jade Dynasty Restaurant, 137 East Pender St., 604-683-3822

Scallop

Scallop-stuffed Zigua: Jade Dynasty Restaurant, 137 East Pender St., 604-683-3822

Clam

Grilled Clams: VIP’s Restaurant, 1487 Marine Dr., West Vancouver, 604-925-1811

Pork

Roast Suckling Pig: Kirin Restaurant, 555 West 12th Ave., 604-879-8038

Beef

Sautéed Beef with Chinese Long Bread: Flamingo Chinese Restaurant, 7510 Cambie St., 604-325-4511

LAMB/GOAT/MUTTON

Lamb Hot Pot: Sun Sui Wah, 3888 Main St., 604-872-8822

Chicken

Chicken Hot Pot: Jade Seafood Restaurant, 8511 Alexandra Rd., Richmond, 604-249-0082

Duck

Stuffed Duck: Shanghai Wonderful, 8380 Lansdowne Rd., Richmond, 604-278-8829

Squab

Roasted Squab: Sea Harbour Seafood, 3711 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-232-0816

DINERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

Best Dim Sum Restaurant: Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant, 3888 Main St., 604-872-8822

Best Cantonese Restaurant: Mui Garden, 5797 Victoria Dr., 604-324-3665

Best Northern Chinese Restaurant: Shanghai River Restaurant, 7831 Westminster Hwy., Richmond, 604-233-8885

Best Hot Pot Restaurant: Chubby Lamb Hotpot Restaurant, 8391 Alexandra Rd., Richmond, 604-303-8843

Best Taiwanese Restaurant: Bubble Tea Café Well Tea, 4811 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, 604-278-7268

Best HK Style Cafe: Gloucester Cafe, 3338 Cambie St., 604- 873-3338.

Best Noodle Soup Restaurant: Sha Lin Noodle House, 548 West Broadway, 604-873-1816

Best Congee Restaurant: Hon’s Wun Tun House, 268 Keefer St., 604-688-0871

Best Chinese Bakery Shop: Anna’s Cake House, 5510 Cambie St., 604-325-8214

Best BBQ Shop/Restaurant: BBQ Master, 4651 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 604-272-6568

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Not long ago, we wrote about great ethnic restaurants in Metro Vancouver. In turn, we asked readers to tell us about their faves. Here’s what you suggest.

INTERNATIONAL CHINESE RESTAURANT

2163 East Hastings St., 604-255-0698

“Cheap but delicious dim sum delivered by cart. Dim sum is varied and hot, plus you can special order if you can’t find it on a cart. Much cheaper than other places. Very basic ambience.”

— Randy Schisler

PHO HOANG

3388 Main St., 604-874-0832

“Great Vietnamese food; lots of variety, good prices, clean with reasonably prompt service. Food is always good quality and tasty. Spring rolls for us are always a good determiner of a Vietnamese restaurant and these are excellent.”

— R.S.

DONA CATA MEXICAN FOODS

5076 Victoria Drive, 604-436-2232

“Diverse choices and tastes like the real thing.”

— R.S.

JOSEPHINE’S RESTAURANT

2650 Main St., 604-876-8785

“Filipino food. Awesome, helpful staff. Food is delicious. Very interesting tastes, but need to be adventurous. We usually avoid buffets unless it is Indian food, but we now include Filipino food.”

— R.S.

CHUTNEY VILLA

147 East Broadway, 604-872-2228

“Excellent Indian restaurant with dosas and fantastic homemade chutneys. Great service, good ambience, friendly, helpful staff.”

— R.S.

EL PULGARCITO

2522 East Hastings, 604-258-7922

“Fantastic [El Salvadorean] food. Very cheap, super-friendly staff, low key.”

— R.S.

KINTARO RAMEN

788 Denman, 604-682-7568

Incredibly delicious ramen. Fresh and tasty. We have eaten ramen in Tokyo and this place is almost as good. Always busy and always lineups.”

— R.S.

GREEN LETTUCE

1949 Kingsway, 604-876-9883

“What a combo of Chinese and Indian flavours! The dishes are Chinese for the most part, but with the Indian spices. The place is always full.”

— R.S.

JOYCE JIAOZI

5103 Joyce St., 604-436-5678

“Cheap northern Chinese food, close to Joyce SkyTrain station. Decent big bowl of beef noodle soup. Also great jiaozi (dumplings, like potstickers, but boiled) with interesting fillings such as tomato and pickled cabbage.”

— Elaine Yong

VAN-YA JAPANESE

5615 Harold St., 604-433-1303

“Family-run, serves homestyle cooking. Everything is consistently good. Nothing too fancy and sushi is standard but fresh. This place has been here for a long time, which is a good thing.

— Elaine Yong

CAFE D’LITE

3144 West Broadway, 604-733-8882

“I go there on a nearly weekly basis because it’s so good. I lived in Malaysia and Singapore for four years and this place is serving the real deal, of the best quality.”

— Lea Ault, co-owner of Hapa Izakaya

JAMBO GRILL

3219 Kingsway, 604-433-5060

“The food is top-notch at a very reasonable price. I’ve sampled just about every dish. My absolute fave is the masala steak with mogo (cassava) fries. The curries are rich and satisfying as are the beef satay skewers and kebabs. The owner, whom we’ve gotten to know as “Nash,” is a terrific host. He sees us at the front door and greets us at the table with our usual drinks.”

— Vesna Coleman

“For the members of the Ismaili community, this is our style of food. Indian, Mideast and African influences. Absolutely worth a try.”

— Fred Nathwani

“Everything I’ve tried on the menu has been wonderful. My faves are the pili pili wings, pili pili mogo, vegetable curry, kachori and chicken tikka. Staff are friendly which always adds positively to great food.”

— Kate McGrath

SERI MALAYSIA

2327 East Hastings, 604-677-7555

“The cooking brings back good memories of the Malay dishes that I have sampled growing up on the island of Borneo. We enjoyed the popular lamb biryani, the chicken curry, roti canai and refreshing cendol drink for dessert, all for around $30. The food is authentic and good value, but the space lacks a little in charm and the location is easy to miss, but I hope he can stick it out.”

— Gina Verster

SPICE ISLANDS

3592 West 41st Ave., 604-266-7355

“It is small and intimate and serves authentic Indonesian cuisine. The sauces, many with coconut milk, are delicious and the presentation is eye pleasing.”

— Gerry van der Ven

ZHEN HUA RESTAURANT

5822 Victoria Drive, 604-325-0783

“My husband and I had a wonderful dim sum lunch there this afternoon. We had six dim sum items and a crisp dish of gai lan with oyster sauce for $24, including a good tip. Service was fast and we left very satisfied.”

— Helen Amaranto

DHARMA KITCHEN

3667 West Broadway, 604-738-3899

“The food has Thai leanings and has no animal-derived ingredients. When we threw a fortieth anniversary party for my parents, the almost exclusively omnivorous crowd raved about the food. Items range from red Thai curry tofu to huge brown rice bowls (they are sooo much better than it sounds). Prices are all under $11 for entrees. There is no alcohol.”

— Pamela Howlett

WORLD CUISINES

DOK JA GOL

4992 Newton, Burnaby, 604-436-5005

“A good Korean restaurant in Burnaby to check out. Their barbecue is totally different from what one comes to expect in a typical Korean restaurant.”

— Joana Tam

LHY THAI

7357 Edmonds St. ,Burnaby, 604-526-8085

“I find the food always hot, tasty and reasonably priced. Any dishes we have tried over the years have been good.”

— Jane Allen

HI GENKI

6680 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, 604-777-0533

“Authentic homestyle Japanese food in an unusual setting, too! Don’t be alarmed when you pull up in front of the Nikkei Seniors Home. It’s the right place. It’s run by the folks behind Fujiya. Portions are large and filling. Hours are limited.”

— Elaine Yong

LAO SHAN DONG HOMEMADE NOODLE HOUSE

105-4887 Kingsway, Burnaby,

604-439-9588

“Beef noodle soup is fragrant with star anise and cinnamon, Taiwanese-style. I think it is amongst the top beef noodle soup joints, if not the best.”

— Elaine Yong

“We frequent the place almost once a week. The service is quick, consistently delicious and reasonably priced. You should try it!”

— Anna Tam

NO. 1 BEEF NOODLE HOUSE

4741 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby, 604-438-6648

“Another Taiwanese joint, though I think Lao Shan Dong has better beef noodles. However, this place has amazing peppery fried chicken bits — amazing! Lots of great little side dishes, good stir-fried noodles, tons of fun drinks, too. But definitely order the peppery fried chicken.”

— Elaine Yong

HAN JU TOFU HOTPOT

8328 Capstan Way, Richmond,

604-247-1079, and 4500 Kingsway, 604-434-8098

“Best for steaming, individual hotpots with seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid) and pork, tofu, egg, along with either bean-thread noodles or thick Shanghai-style noodles. Always consistent, always good. Go early for lunch as they are lined up out the door. Nothing more than $7 and you’ll have leftovers.”

— Lana Wong

CONTINENTAL SEAFOOD

11170 Cambie Rd., Richmond, 604-278-6331

“Our company often entertains out-of-town guests there for dim sum. The food is well prepared and the service nothing short of spectacular. We have been going there for years.”

— A. L.

TASTE OF PUNJAB

10009-136 A St., Surrey, 604-588-7700

“A little hole-in-the-wall at the back of a strip mall. The food is consistently very good and prices are phenomenally cheap. The owner always circulates to every table to ensure everyone is satisfied and content. The naan is among the best I’ve ever eaten; the servers understand and respect the word ‘mild’ (very important to this pale-skinned wimp!) and the restaurant is kept impeccably clean (equally important for someone very afraid of food poisoning).”

— Sandy Rea

THE BOMBAY RESTAURANT

2748 Lougheed Highway, Port Coquitlam,

604-944-3872

“It is a well established, very popular spot to eat authentic Indian cuisine. The owner/chef brings in all his spices and rice from India and the menu is very comprehensive, including some excellent vegetarian dishes. Their mango lassi is the best and a real treat and the naan is always fresh and hot.”

— Thelka Wright

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun