Omnivoire’s Holiday (2) Chambar

I’ve never really liked mussel when I was a kid living in the coastal city of southern China. Every summer, the street food vender’s basket would be filled with this little black shell creature with spots of seaweed seed resting on it. My mom just loves mussel. She would buy a whole bag and simply cook it with ginger and green onion, added some white pepper, vola! But for me, i like something with more texture, more chewy, something like clams. Eating mussel was not eating delicious seafood, it was eating the yucky belly of delicious seafood.

As I discover that my food preference changes as I get older, I start to like things that I absolutely hated if it’s 10 years ago, things such as bitter melon, pork liver, etc etc…..and mussels. Now I live in a city where mussel was treated as a delicacy on the table rather than cheap seasonal shellfish, I can not enjoy them without secretly crying in my heart after converting the dollar price here to Chinese Yuan where the exchange rate is 1:7. Maybe because of the price factor, or simply my mussel fever, I found the mussels here taste better, or lighter “mussely” than the ones I had years ago in China. By using different herbs, wines, and tomato, western way of cooking mussels bring out a more balanced savory taste of mussel. It is said that Belgian mussels are the best. I got to try it in one of Vancouver’s the hottest new restaurant “Chambar“. Again, thanks to Nico’s Xmas gift to me, my Little Dine-out Handbook of Vancouver.

We arrived at 6pm and the restaurant was already packed. It is so popular that when we tried to book it during Christmas, Valentines, and the”Dine-out Vancouver”, they were all booked out way ahead of time. So finally for my birthday, I got a chance to try it out for its fame.

Charmbar is located right besides the Stadium skytrain station. There’s no fancy neon light or even a name board that indicates the name of the restaurant, only a big clear glass wall showing all the hippy Yaletowners happily enjoying their food and drinks. The interior is nice and cozy, with long sharing table that can seat more than 20 people. There extra big room at the back which do not overlooks the “false-creek sunset”–print in the review of Vancouver magazine, but the top of skytrain station and the numinous construction cranes. Well, at least we get to see the blue sky from space between high-rise buildings.

Here’s a list of what we ordered:

$10 Vesper Lynd
The tea martini
Earl grey infused vodka, fresh lime, apple juice and a drizzle of blueberry syrup. Shaken and served martini style.

I didn’t find this martini outstanding in anyway, maybe i just lack a taste bud for this supposedly fancy drink by “the city’s best mixologist” Mark Brand. I didn’t taste the tea infusion, nor other liquor flavor. For that price, I was honestly disappointed.

$15 Les crevettes de B.C.
Panko crusted B.C. spot prawns, saffron bisque cappucino & fine herb aioli.

The spot prawns are great with the herb aioli, which taste like a little like flavored mayo. The crunchiness of the deep fried sweet prawn and the fresh flavor of herb are good combination. The saffron bisque is made from cook prawn head juice, nicely presented in a double coated glass cappucino cup, it’s a little on the salty side, but very smooth texture.

$19 Congolaise
Mussels cooked with fresh tomato, smoked chilli and cilantro with a touch of coconut cream and lime.

The mussels are the best dish of the night. It came in such a big pot that I was stunned that such big portion will be served in a fancy restaurant that usually is associated with big dish and small size food. With my student budget, I was indeed pleased with the amount of food we got. There’s 1 and 1/2 lb. of mussels in that pot, and we finish them all. We could have drank the soup if bread was served for dipping. Instead, they serve Belgian fries with mayo. Delicious! My mussel craving was completely satisfied.

$25 Tajine d’aziz a l’agneau
Braised lamb shank with honey, figs, cinnamon & cilantro, served with cous cous and zalouk.

It is one of the best lamb shank I’ve ever had. It’s nicely done that the meat was tender and juicy but not falling apart. The sauce was quite sweet for my taste, but it’s a nice balance with the lamb. I think this prepared in Moroccan way with figs and lots of dry fruit in the cous cous.

The bill came up to be around $84 after tax and tips. I am generally quite happy with this meal except the drink was not such a big hit for me. Overall, I was expecting something more innovative, but what we ordered fell more for comfort food. Well, it’s a great birthday celebration meal, and I had so many mussels that I was just as happy as I can be.