Kam’s Place – Singaporean Restaurant on Davie

Today I tried out a restaurant at lunchtime that I’ve never been before.  I’ve heard from a few that this place is quite a bit better at dinner, so we’ll have to take this into consideration with my review (and I’ll have to try it out for dinner another time).

There was a very inexpensive lunch menu available, which included dishes ranging from as low as $5.25 up to $6.50 and that comes with rice, soup, and a “salad” (basically head lettuce leaves with a sweet vinaigrette).

The items that we ordered today included a few things: the Long Bean Spicy Chicken (and the same dish but with Pork), the Black Bean Sauce with Pork and Veggies, and the Spicy Tofu. Each one came with a sort of hot and sour spicy soup (not sure what it’s officially called), which contained tomatoes and bean sprouts.

First to come to the table was our appetizer-sized Hot and Sour Soups.  None of us actually finished these, as they weren’t really all that good.  They were spicy, and almost too sour in flavour in my opinion. I just couldn’t be bothered to finish it up when I wasn’t sure what was yet to come.

Next was the Spicy Tofu. This I didn’t try. But here is a lovely picture for you all to see.

The next items to show up were the Long Bean Spicy Chicken and Pork. I enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t too much sauce in the dish, although the beans were a bit overcooked for my liking.  I still like them to have a bit more crunch to them than they did, and then they don’t look so shrivelled – makes it a bit more appealing as well. The chicken and pork was cooked well though.

So it’s pretty funny, but I got my food last after everyone else had already eaten half of theirs.  I think they forgot about me and I had to ask if my food was still coming. This actually happened after a co-worker started eating what seemed to be my original dish that I ordered (the Long Bean Spicy Pork).  I think it was a bit of a miscommunication with our server.  So, once the Black Bean Sauce with Pork came along, we burst into laughter as we realized we had our meals switched up. Regardless, I’d already tasted the others, so I went along and ate what came. The problem with dishes that have Sauce in their name, is that they usually have too much sauce on them! I liked the zucchini in the dish, but had to pick out pieces of red and green pepper and kind of wipe them off a bit so that it wasn’t too much.  I found that the ‘salad’ actually tasted okay because it was lighter and more fresh in taste to counteract the overpowering black bean flavour. Sorry about the awful glare in the pic – the sun came up suddenly (wow, sun in November!) and I couldn’t get the lighting to work right (and was already starving by then after all the waiting).

I’m hoping that this place is actually much better for dinner, although I have to say I am a bit skeptical now. I was disappointed by both the service (slow, and food mix-up) and the lunch itself. Although I know the meals were very budget-friendly and often you get what you pay for, so really, it’s difficult to not try this again for dinner at least once more.

Please leave me a comment and let me know if my experience was unusual, and if it is in fact worth going back!

Kam’s Place (sorry, couldn’t find a website)
1043 Davie St
Vancouver, B.C.
604.669.3389

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A Taste of Azia in Downtown Vancouver

On Friday I went for lunch with several co-workers, and decided to go to a place nearby the office that we hadn’t been to for awhile – Azia – in the Scotiabank Theatre building in downtown Vancouver. I have been a few times now, for both lunches and dinners, and have found that the food is fairly good, but it does depend on what type of dishes you’re ordering.  So today, I’ll run through a variety of what there is to offer so you can decide for yourself if you choose to go there to dine before a movie, or just check it out for a random meal.

At lunchtime, there is a lunch specials menu available which has quite a large selection of items that you can pick, all of which are served with a couple of sides (I believe it was spring rolls and / or perhaps a soup of some type). Unfortunately, I can’t find this anywhere in the lunch section of the current website, and I can’t quite recall the exact options since none of us ordered from this part of the menu (sorry, I may have lost a few brain cells after my company holiday party on Friday night).

I’m lucky to have a lot of co-workers and friends who also enjoy trying a variety of dishes (and are also super patient with my newfound picture taking before eating), so I managed to try quite a few different things.  Our order included the Peking Duck Spring Rolls, the Singapore Laksa, and the Chicken Lettuce Wraps, none of which I’ve had before at this place.

Peking Duck Rolls – These spring rolls were served with hoi sin sauce on the side, and were a bit on the greasy side (a bit of a hazard of eating deep fried fare, but I’ve definitely had other spring rolls that didn’t seem to soak up quite so much oil in the cooking process). I’m also not a big fan of hoi sin sauce, since I find that it can be quite overpowering to the food you’re eating it with, and would’ve been happier with a lighter sweet chilli or plum-type sauce. As a result, I opted out of dipping this at all after the first bite, but still thought they were nothing special (my mother makes the meanest spring rolls you would probably ever taste, so I do feel kind of sorry for any others that I’ve tried).

Singapore Laksa – This spicy curry-based soup was filled with vermicelli noodles, cucumber (a bit soggy), a variety of seafood (some type of white fish and shrimp), tofu, and a hard-boiled egg (always tasty). Compared to others I have had, I found that the broth was not quite thick and rich enough (maybe some coconut milk would help it out?), and had a slightly different taste than I was used to – although I still can’t quite put my finger on why.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps – I found these to be my favourite dish of the day.  Again, these were served with hoi sin sauce on the side to put into the wraps, but after trying it in one, I opted out for the rest.  The chicken and veggie mixture already had enough flavour in it to skip the sauce (I’m not a huge fan of ‘over-saucing’ any food). Besides the fact that the chicken actually looked and tasted a bit like pork (which I still enjoy), the wraps were nice and light and fresh.

There were a variety of other dishes on our table, and the other one I tried was the Beef and Black Bean Sauce Chow Mein.  What I enjoyed about this was there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of black bean sauce over the dish, so you got to enjoy a bit of a different texture as there was still some crunch to some of the chow mein noodles.

Others ordered the Wonton Soup (he gets it every time he goes, so there must be something to it), the Beef Fried Rice Noodles in X.O. Sauce (she ate the whole thing and said she enjoyed it), and the Singapore Noodles (no comment on that one). Although I didn’t try these three items, I thought I’d include the extra pics for your viewing pleasure anyway.

Beef Fried Rice Noodles in X.O. Sauce

Wonton Soup

Singapore Noodles

In the past, other dishes that I’ve tried and enjoyed were the Roti Canai, which is Malaysian bread that comes with a curry sauce to dip it in, and a variety of Japanese and sushi dishes (namely the Ebi Chili Mayo).  I would have to say the Japanese food at Azia is what I’ve liked the most, although I’ve tried other better options in town (see my recent post about Juno).

All in all, this restaurant will provide a wide range of variety in terms of Asian food if you’re feeling indecisive or just want to try many things at once.  The prices of the food seem a bit high overall for the quality that you’re getting, but it gives you a chance to try something a bit different if you’re in the area.

Azia Restaurant & Sushi Bar
990 Smithe Street
Vancouver, BC
604.682.8622

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Coast Seafood Restaurant: From Coast to Coast

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a couple of female co-workers and we decided to head over to Coast Restaurant in their newer location on Alberni. I’m not sure if it was what I chose to eat, but I think I liked the food at the old Yaletown spot better.  Somehow, even though the atmosphere was larger and more modern and they have a great patio at the new place, it just felt like the food could’ve been from…well, anywhere that served seafood really.

The other thing that we all really noticed was that the service at this particular lunch was not up to par.  We waited for awhile to order (of course it was prime lunch hour and really busy), but then the server didn’t even ask for our drink order first.  I think he just completely forget and when he took our food orders, we just threw in what we wanted to drink.  We then had to wait 20 minutes until our food had come, and remind him to bring us something besides the water on the table. Other than that, it was just really slow to get our bill after asking, and I think he may have forgotten the sushi until we checked in on that too. I do have to say though that the other two times I’ve dined at the new Coast (one other lunch and once for dinner) the service was better, so it could’ve just been an off day, or that person in particular.

So here’s what we had to eat:

Mango California Roll and Eel and BBQ Salmon Roll – These rolls were definitely the best part of our lunch. Mango puts a great spin on any roll since it’s always nice and fresh, and having real crab is a must-have for me to eat any type of California roll. The fish roe on top was a great touch as well. As for the other one, I’m not usually a fan of eel, but the sauce on this roll (bbq sake) was better than most since it wasn’t too thick or overpowering, and the eel tasted quite good as well.  What I really liked about this roll (and what my co-worker also mentioned), was that the portions of all of the components of the roll fit well together.

 

 

Lobster Hot Dog – Now this was interesting. The idea sounded so great when you looked at it on the menu – who wouldn’t want a whole chunk of lobster! The problem is, it was literally a ‘hot dog’ in the sense that the lobster was ground up and made into something in the shape of a weiner, which ended up with a similar texture to a fish cake.  There were also fairly large pieces of regular lobster on top, along with the dijon mustard and the sauerkraut, but it just wasn’t quite what my co-worker had in mind.  Also, it did look kind of funny – let’s just say my friend lost her appetite partway through, and when I asked her why, she just pointed and made a face. I’ll let you use your imagination and leave it at that. The lobster dog was served with a chowder of some sort (which I didn’t taste), but was told was “good, especially since it had real chunks of lobster in it.”

 

 

Cod Burger – We were told that halibut season just abruptly ended this past weekend, so although the menu item was originally a Halibut Burger, another co-worker was able to substitute this with cod.  Again, this was served with the same lobster chowder.  The burger was a bit spicy, in a pale ale batter.  We were trying to figure out if it was the patty itself, or the sauce in the burger, and I’m pretty sure it was the cocktail sauce within. Although I didn’t try this myself, I did want to include some info and a pic about it so you have more examples. She did say that her meal was good and would order it again.

 

 

Cod Fish and Chips – I have eaten this on another occasion when I was at Coast for dinner a few weeks ago. I was nursing a bit of a red wine hangover from Wednesday night, so I felt like something greasy and carb-heavy, and this definitely fit the bill! The batter was a bit thick in some parts, and I ended up peeling some of it off. I picked at the coleslaw once or twice to try to get some vegetables in me, but that’s something I would suggest skipping next time around - it was limp and pretty tasteless. As for the fries, they were fairly average in my mind. They were great in terms of fulfilling my need for greasy carbs at the time though!

 

 

Other items I’ve had when dining here in the past were the Hers lunch box  – this comes with tuna sashimi on a salad, a shrimp wrap, and a bowl of Manhatten clam chowder.  This was definitely a better option, but it was somewhat small (just something to note if you’re usually a big eater like me). At the dinner a few weeks ago, I had the Signature Chilled Platter.  This was fairly tasty as well, but I’m not sure if it was just my expectations going in were too high or what, but I didn’t find it to be anything special either.  We also tried out the Signature Seafood Platter, which includes a wide array of hot items.  I thought that the best part of this was the potato gnocchi and the wild sea tiger prawns.

Overall, I would suggest going here for dinner and trying out the platters and other seafood options rather than lunch.  I remember that I enjoyed the food at Coast a lot more when I went to the old Yaletown location, but that was over a year ago and a bit of a distant memory at this point (so I’m not exactly clear on the details). The atmosphere was great, and so is the heated patio (but watch out for the bench seating as you’ll be looking up at your dining partners the whole meal since the ground is on an upward slant). I would go back again for drinks one night.

Coast Restaurant
1054 Alberni Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6E 1A3
604.685.5010
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A Tapastree of Flavours in the West End

It was Wednesday night, and what better way is there to get over the mid-week hump than by trying a new restaurant?

After aiming to go to a newer place in town and not being able to get in so last minute, we decided on trying out Tapastree, which I’ve heard from many friends before is a must-try. They’ve been around for about 12 years now. Unfortunately they’ve exceeded their web traffic limit for the month at the moment, but hopefully you’ll be able to check out their website in early December.

Anyway, there were 6 of us that decided to venture out last night and do some catching up and celebrate a couple of recent engagements.  I had no idea we were in for such a treat, and we had a really great time – so great in fact that we’re thinking of going somewhere new every Wednesday moving forward.

Since there were so many of us, and this is a tapas restaurant, we were lucky to be able to try a substantial amount of items and shared everything that we ordered. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tomato, Bocconcini & Avocado with Fresh Basil – This was fairly tasty, but wasn’t anything special compared to similar salads I’ve had at other places.

 

 

Sauteed Wild Mushrooms on toast with goat cheese – The mushrooms were delicious, and there was just the right amount of goat cheese in this dish so it wasn’t overwhelming.

 

 

Bruschetta, tomatoes, olives, basil & garlic - The bruschetta was delicious – I could’ve eaten every piece.  The garlic wasn’t overpowering, but complemented the rest of the dish perfectly.

 

 

Beet salad with brie cheese (someone grabbed a bite before I managed to get in there with my camera). I love beets – this one included red and yellow beets in it, and the cheese on top was great!

 

 

Ahi Tuna seared with ponzu & hot Chinese mustard – my other favourite of the night.  The tuna was so fresh and soft and again, melt in your mouth deliciousness. I loved the way it tasted dipped in the mustard – very complementary flavours.

 

 

Chicken Livers, pan-fried with lemon, tomatoes, brandy & black pepper – I  think I scared off most of the people at the table with this one, but I wanted to try it as soon as I saw it on the menu.  The texture of chicken liver is great – so soft and flavourful.  This would’ve been great if there was some extra bread to dip in the sauce, but we were getting a bit too full by then to add anymore carbs to the meal.

 

 

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with spicy aioli - This chicken tasted great.  It was like eating small pieces of popcorn like chicken that you could dip into the aioli sauce and eat by hand. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sauce though – it wasn’t really all that spicy or flavourful to me (but then again, everything else was sooo flavourful that my palette may have been a bit underwhelmed).

 

 

Flat Iron Steak with Peppercorn Sauce – the meat was nice and tender and wasn’t overcooked. I also enjoyed the sauce, but not sure this would be one of my top picks when I go back. 

 

 

Sablefish marinated with a miso vinaigrette - tasted like butter. I love the way that sablefish just melts in your mouth, but my favourite way that it’s served is when it’s marinated in miso. There’s just something about that combination that couldn’t get any better. This was my favourite dish of the night – I had to order another one to fully satisfy myself.

 

 

Lamb Chops in a gorgonzola demi-glace – these were cooked just right, and the sauce was tasty too.

 

 

Macaroni & Cheese – I’m not a huge fan of this dish at the best of times, but I do have to admit that this version was really tasty. It had a great cheesy flavour and was nice and creamy.  This was on one of their daily specials, so note that it won’t be on their regular menu.

 

 

Chocolate Fondant – I’m not a huge fan of chocolate in desserts after dinner because they’re usually so rich and I’m pretty full at that point. I enjoy it more just as a separate snack during any other part of the day.  The fondant, however, was so creamy and delicious, especially when eaten with the whipping cream and a slice of strawberry.

 

 

Creme Brulee - The creme brulee was diviiine. Everyone loved this one – you could taste the vanilla and it was such a perfect end to the meal.  We all kept fighting over  the last spoonfuls and I’m almost surprised that no one actually picked it up and licked the bowl.

 

 

Beyond the food, the service was also great.  The servers were very friendly, were there whenever you needed anything, and were very attentive, but not intrusive. 

Overall, Tapastree is a great casual dining restaurant, with a terrific atmosphere for a date or a smaller group of friends to dine and have share plates.

Tapastree Restaurant

1829 Robson Street

Vancouver, BC V6G 1E4, Canada

(604) 606-4680

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Juno Vancouver Sushi Bistro – A Definite Hidden Gem

Today I went back to a small newer Japanese restaurant for lunch (I’ve been a few times now), and I remembered how great it was all over again.  The place is called Juno – it’s located right downtown on Davie between Seymour and Richards, and I’m not sure why more people don’t know about it!  It’s got a great little atmosphere with nice decor, the staff are actually Japanese and are super friendly, and the food is excellent! They even use free range eggs and chicken and locally grown products, and the fish is wild.  Really, you can’t go wrong here. 

There are even certain items like the tamago that I have not liked anywhere (because I’m just not a tamago fan),  but this is an exception at Juno – I really enjoy it and look forward to eating it each time I go!

Anyway, today I went with my brother and a friend and we tried a few things from their lunch menu.  The price on the specials are definitely worthwhile for the quality of food that you’re getting.  Also, it’s got great options for add-ons if one dish isn’t enough for you – you can add on half-size or full rolls or sashimi for a fraction of the price you could usually find them.  For example, half-rolls for $2 each, and 5 pieces of tuna or sockeye salmon sashimi for an additional $5. Plus, they use real crab meat.

This time, we tried a few different menu items – I had the Nigiri Sushi combo and a half Dynamite Roll (I love prawn tempura).  Each lunch special also comes with a miso soup to start, which was nice since the rain here hasn’t been letting up lately and we were freezing. It had lots of tofu and green onions and helped warm me right up. The fish was very fresh and it’s always a good sign when a Japanese restaurant uses white ginger (instead of the pink stuff).

We also had the Chirashi Sushi – which is essentially a variety of sashimi on a bed of sushi rice, including wasabi, ginger, pieces of nori, as well as a shiso leaf, which is delicious when you eat it wrapped around a piece of tuna. Again, very delicious – I’ve eaten chirashi at other places recently and it hasn’t even come close to this.

Finally, we had the Top Sirloin Beef Steak, which comes with brown rice and a salad with yellow beets. A great option for those a bit more diet-conscious among us.  The meat was very tender and delicious and I would definitely recommend trying it.

Another dish I’ve also tried (and of course, enjoyed), was the Pork Katsu-don, served with brown rice. Please note that if you don’t like brown rice, that’s the only option for some of the lunch special dishes. However, it’s cooked well and doesn’t have the hard, thick consistency that you can sometimes get elsewhere and I find hard to swallow.

I grabbed a take-out menu on the way out, as I was guessing that Juno might not do much marketing or have a website (and I seem to be right), so I’ve taken a couple of snapshots so you can get an idea of the menu - you probably won’t be able to find it anywhere else at the moment. Just click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Please, I urge you all to try this place out – I want it to stick around for a long time so I can keep going back. I’m trying to figure out a good evening soon to go with a bunch of friends for dinner again – a lot of the special rolls look like they will be delicious.

Overall Rating: This has definitely become one of my top 3 favourites in town for sushi. Excellent food, great lunch specials, and super friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Juno Vancouver Sushi Bistro
572 Davie Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604.568.8805

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Dan Pablo Gourmet Restaurant – Ambar Resort Food Redeemed?

So the gourmet restaurant on our last night at the resort managed to help redeem the food experience for us – at least a little bit.  This helped carry us through to the final day of our trip, and re-energized our spirits after a long diving trip to the other side of the island (Catalina).  The good new is, I will not need to create another top ten list of all the bad things that could go wrong, like the El Olivo experience.

On our final night at the resort in the Dominican, we had a reservation for one of the other two remaining restaurants in the Ambar adults-only section of the Gran Bahia Principe property: the Don Pablo Gourmet restaurant.

This started off much better from the very beginning. The welcome drink was a Pink Lady (vodka, cointreau, and cranberry juice), which was tasty and not overly sweet. Once we sat down, we were pleased to see that there wasn’t a single type of buffet in sight! Now this was exciting…

The servers were very, very friendly, and we could sense that this food experience would have to be better than the last.  Once we sat down, we had an appetizer that included chicken covered in a thin blue cheese sauce on top of what appeared to be a crostini. This was alright, but I probably wouldn’t have ordered it if I had the choice again.

Followed by that, we both tried the Camembert Fingers Salad, with a rosemary vinaigrette dressing. The cheese was nice and moist and the dressing was light and tart, with a touch of sweetness to it in the form of honey. I think this was probably my favourite dish (besides the dessert).

As our mains, we had the Chateaubriand, medium rare, and the Lobster. The Chateaubriand was a bit overcooked for my liking – it was more of a medium. However, our server came up to the table with the tenderloin and cut it up for us right there, and added the peppercorn sauce on top (a sweet mustard sauce was the other choice). It was served  with a variety of veggies, including mushrooms, asparagus, red peppers, carrots, and potatoes.

The lobster was served with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and a garlic butter sauce. Thankfully, I did not have déjà vu, and this did not bring me back to any reminders of socks, or any other dirty laundry for that matter (see my last post). The lobster meat was quite tender, and who doesn’t like garlic butter? Overall, it was a pretty good dish.

For dessert,  we chose the Coconut Surprise with the mango coulis (was a bit dry at first, but it got better and better the more I ate and was great when you dipped it into the whipping cream and sweet coconut flakes), along with the Banana Flambe.

What was fun about this was the server came to the table with all of the ingredients, and we got to see him light the dessert on fire with a little help of some Dominican Rum. We even shot a little video of it that I’ll post at a later date should you ever be inspired to try this at home.

The flambe was served with a chocolate tart cake, which had a touch of coffee flavouring to it – this went really well with the banana and the triple sec, lime, and butter sauce. 

After all this food in one sitting, we were quite full (especially since we hadn’t been eating a whole lot while enduring day after day at the buffets).  Now that meal was enough to satiate us for another 24 hours until we could have…airplane food. Go figure.

You Know You’re Having a Bad Food Experience When…

So I’m now in Punta Cana,  Dominican Republic, on vacation and while I was eating one of the worst meals of my life, I had an idea for this post.

This is basically my experience last night dining at a Mediterranean à la carte restaurant called “El Olivo” at the Gran Bahia Principe Ambar. I mean, I know that when you’re at this type of resort and in the Dominican and you’re eating for ‘free’ you can’t really have high expectations…but…for your reading enjoyment I thought I’d turn it into a top ten list – “You know you’re having a bad food experience when:”

10. …you walk into the restaurant 25 minutes early for your reservation (because you’re so hungry after sitting and relaxing in the sun all day) and they seat you right away in the half-empty restaurant.

9. …the server tries to do funny dance moves while pouring your wine and makes jokes (probably to distract you from the taste of your meal).

8. …you look over to the faces of the other diners and come across a larger American picking at his food with a look of mild distaste on his face.

7. …you take a bite out of the lobster on the grilled seafood “daily chef’s special” and you get this overwhelming sense that you’re in a laundry room filled with dirty, sweaty socks.

6. …your boyfriend orders a tuna dish that was completely different from yours, yet it still had the same gravy sauce all over it as every part of your dish.

5. …you eat a grilled prawn and it tastes like a cross between chlorine and bleach. You’re not sure how to describe it and your boyfriend says “Chlorax” and you spit out your food thinking of a cross between anthrax and bleach. Hmmm…

4. …the servers don’t even ask once how you’re enjoying the food, because they already know the answer to that question.

3. …you take a bite of the desserts and you wonder if they were the leftovers from the breakfast buffet…two days ago.

2. …they get your dessert order wrong and bring you over the right one even though you say you don’t want another one anymore…because they can’t get rid of it fast enough and don’t want to have to be the ones to eat those leftovers…?

1. And finally…You know you’re having a bad food experience when…you eat at an à la carte restaurant at an all-inclusive resort and you end up going back to the regular buffet afterwards to continue eating because you couldn’t get enough down to fill you up.

I’m really hoping that there won’t be a part two to this post, once we head to the next à  la carte on the list…

P.S. the resort is absolutely gorgeous in every other way though – I will likely post some pics later on (my camera battery died today).

Society Dining Lounge Yaletown – Unpredictable or Awkward?

To view this post on my new domain, please go to http://victoriasfoodsecrets.com/2009/11/society-dining-lounge-yaletown-unpredictable-or-awkward/

Tuesday was a fun and crazy night in Vancouver – and the fact that I was able to eat a meal at a new place didn’t hurt either! It’s a bit late for me to be putting up this post, but I figure I have a pretty good excuse since I’m still trying to recover from my boyfriend’s big birthday bash that he has every year. Those who have been to one of these parties at any point in the past will know exactly what I’m talking about…

Anyway, we started the night out at the new Society Dining Lounge in Yaletown that’s run by the Glowbal Group. There, we had the entire upstairs lounge area to ourselves, and were able to enjoy a dinner with a variety of the comfort food that they serve. Mind you, comfort food to me is more Asian style fare (see my Congee Noodle House post), but I’m always willing to give something new a shot.

Since we had a larger group filling the place up, we ended up doing a set menu buffet-style arrangement so we would have the chance to taste a variety of appies and desserts and other menu items.  This was a great way to be introduced to the food at a new restaurant in town, and wish I could do it everywhere I go.

Here’s what was brought out (in a great, quick way – thanks to all the staff there that night for the prompt and friendly service!):

Appies:

• Mixed Leaf Salad – with a light vinaigrette dressing – a little bland for my tastes, but I’m also not huge on salad in general
• ‘Mac and Cheese’ Balls – these were essentially macaroni and cheese in a deep-fried shell
• Forno Baked Nachos – loved the whole black olives on this one!
• Poutine, with cheese curd and chicken gravy – a good way to carb up in preparation of a big night of drinking (or at the end of the night before bed)
• Smoked Salmon on flatbread – this was definitely my fave of the night.  The salmon didn’t taste overly strong or smoky and wasn’t fishy at all.

Main:

• Loaded Prime Rib Burger – I really could taste the distinct flavours of the caramelized onions.  Not really my favourite – I love prime rib but prefer it on its own instead of in the confines of a burger.

Dessert:

• Junk Food Platter – everything from cotton candy to caramel corn to a delicious ice cream sandwich milkshake. The doughnut holes, filled with warm, white chocolate were soooo divine. I heard the rice crispie squares were also pretty tasty. I love dessert, no complaints there.

Photo Credit: Mark Kinskofer

In my opinion, the upstairs lounge at Society has a great atmosphere and I really liked the deco and the comfortable open seating.  It was really great for hosting a larger party and turned out really well for our group.  However, when I was downstairs walking towards the bathroom, I noticed that the dining room seating was a bit crammed and am not sure I’d really be into having food in that kind of setting.

All in all, I’ll for sure go back to Society for the upstairs lounge atmosphere, drinks and friendly service. The team was definitely accommodating and did an excellent job of ensuring our large group could eat and drink and stay on schedule for the rest of the night’s agenda. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really a fan of the comfort food and the servers in white tank tops and jeans.  Maybe this needs a bit more fine-tuning so it feels a little less awkward and more like their goal of ‘unpredictable.’

What did everyone else think?

Society Dining Lounge
1257 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604.629.8800

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Make Larb Tonight

So one of my all-time favourite Thai dishes that most people have not yet tried is called larb (pronounced kind of like ’la-ab’). I grew up with this dish (as I was extremely lucky and not only is my mom Thai, but an AMAZING cook) and it’s something that I like more and more each time I have it.  Of course, I had to learn how to make it in her unique way,  but I still make sure to order it most of the time when I’m out in a Thai restaurant or when I’m travelling through Thailand, just to see how their versions turn out – they’re all slightly different.

I was feeling a little extra special today, so decided that I wanted to make larb tonight for dinner with my boyfriend. There are so many unique flavours in Thai food, and when you have all of the right fresh ingredients, it can really make all the difference in the world.  Because of this, I thought I’d share this little recipe with you. 

Ingredients (I never measure and just cook to taste, so here is my best guess in terms of quantities for everything):

• 1 pound ground turkey or chicken (or mixture thereof)
• 1 tomato
• half a small white onion
• large handful fresh mint leaves
• small handful of cilantro (~1/4 of the amount of mint) (optional)
• 2-3 thai chilli peppers (or more if you can handle it!)
• 1 inch stem of fresh lemongrass
• ground roasted rice (optional)
• 1 lime
• 4 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce

For those out there who are a bit more adventurous, feel free to add some additional chicken hearts, liver, and or gizzards (sorry if I’ve lost some of you now). Also, feel free to chop up half a green/red/yellow pepper if you happen to have some in your fridge to use up.

And most importantly – in advance, cook some jasmine rice to eat with the larb.

Now on to the dish!

Start out by adding a small amount of water to the bottom of a frying pan or wok (please, no oil!).  Turn the heat on the element to high, and put in the ground meat. Cook until the water has all evaporated – usually around 10 minutes.

In the meantime, chop up all of the veggies into small pieces. I find the smaller you can make everything, the better this dish turns out. Put them into a bowl and mix altogether.

In another small bowl, mix together the fish sauce, oyster sauce, and squeeze in the juice from the lime. Stir it up and take a quick taste – should be fairly salty and tart.

Once those are all done, pour the cooked meat into the fresh vegetables, and then stir in the sauce. That’s it!

Larb for Two

Everything but the meat is cooked, and there really isn’t anything unhealthy in this. It’ll be enough for 2 people if that’s all you’re eating for your meal, or else more if it’s going to be one of a few dishes.

But something that I do recommend – please try ordering this next time you do go to a Thai restaurant for dinner.  It’s usually found under the salad section of the menu, but I love just ordering this and eating it with plain jasmine rice.

I hope you have as great of an experience making (and eating) larb as I always do – enjoy!

Congee Noodle House – Great Comfort Food

When I feel like I’m coming down with a cold or the weather becomes more rainy in the fall (as you know it always does here in Vancouver), one thing that I always crave is congee (rice soup). It’s one of those great Asian comfort foods that can somehow help you feel better with each and every warm spoonful.

Well, it was just another one of those nights this week - I have been coming down with yet another cold (after a nasty flu a couple of weeks ago), and it also happened to be wet and dreary out. I met up with a co-worker friend of mine, who had to leave her house for the evening so that her cleaning lady could work her magic (let me know if you need a recommendation – she’s awesome!). We were tossing around ideas towards the end of the workday, and I realized what I had been missing lately – Congee Noodle House! It happened to be her favourite congee place in the city as well, and we both hadn’t been there for awhile.

Anyway, we walked in and as usual, it was filled with a large crowd of Asian people (a good sign of authentic Chinese food).   No matter what time of day or night (it’s open past 1 am usually) I’ve been to this place, it’s always pretty much full to the brim.   To soothe my unwell soul, I ordered the chinese mushroom and scallop congee, and of course, got it with a side of salted Chinese donut. If you’ve never had this before in your congee, you definitely have to try it on your next visit!

We also shared a green onion rice roll, which was a first for me, but also good. Usually I will order the scallop or shrimp rice roll, but really they all are tasty, depending on your mood in terms of type of filling. My co-worker ordered a wonton soup – those wontons looked really tasty as well – large, juicy prawn and pork filling. The best part? After eating our meal and being stuffed to the brim, we managed to only spend $22 between the two of us!

Other past favourites for me include the BBQ Duck on rice, Gai Lan (I prefer the oyster sauce on the side so it’s not too strong), House Special Chow Mein that comes with a variety of chicken and seafood, Salty Spicy Squid (so much garlic you may not be able to talk to anyone for the next day though), and BBQ Pork.

I’ve been coming to this place (on West Broadway near Main Street), for about 10 years now.  The first time was actually with my mom, who’s friend of 15 years moved to Vancouver and found this place, which was before I had even moved to the city after university. As you can probably tell – it’s a longstanding favourite via word of mouth – it doesn’t even have a website.

Overall a very unassuming place, and definitely a very low-key atmosphere, but the inexpensive and tasty comfort food will keep me coming back!

Congee Noodle House
141 Broadway East
Vancouver, BC V5T 1W1, Canada
(604) 879-8221

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