Omnivore’s Holiday (3) Mussel Fever continues

– So, what’s the result of not having enough mussels when you crave them?

– Get them fresh from the rocks!

Thus off we go to kayak to the anonymous island near deep cove. When we landed I was so exited to discover that the entire rocky shore was covered by millions of mussels snugging with each other to survive on the the surface of rocks. Millions of them had became meals of sea birds with only empty shells left, but there’s another millions for ME to grab, FOR FREE! Oh yeah~

I wanted to take as much as I can, but the good citizen side of me kicked in; I was not sure if it’s legal to take mussels for free without a fishing license, even though technically I was not “fishing”. After minutes of struggle between ethic and mussel craving, the good part of me won, and I took home the small bunch, just for “souvenier”.

Of course, they are a souvenir for my stomach. I cooked them as a simple soup: cleaned, t boiled in water, added salt and white peper, with green onions. Simple and delicious. The mussels were surprisingly plump. I will go back to my little secret mussel farm for more soon!

 

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.

Omnivoire’s Holiday (1) Go Fish

May is THE month of the year for me, not only does my birthday falls on the 11th, also my cousin Rainy’s as well as two other my best friends were born at May. So many birthdays equal to many delicious meals or dining out. Typically, after all these celebration, I will feel my body is blow as a bloom filled with all the food I take in. As now I am officially graduated from school, I have too much free time in my hand that I spend quite a lot of time cooking in the kitchen. Sometimes I feel more like a pig eating so much rather than a cook. But still, what can be better than a nicely prepared meal?

To mark the start of summer holiday, we went to Granville Island as it is my top place to go visit, just to see all the fresh off the boat fish, colorful seasonal fruits and vegetables, countless types of meat and cheese, not to mention my favorite desserts. But the must visit for me is the Go Fish. It’s located on the sidewalk of False Creek leading towards Kits Beach. It is voted the best Fish and Chips in town by George Straight this year. It was the first weekend that they open for this summer, food lovers already crowed this little stand wanting the freshes seafood prepared street style with a touch of west coast high end dining. (The chef from C restaurant owns Go Fish)

We ordered fish taco, which is recommended by Vancouver magazine’s food guide. (Thank you Nico!)

Preparing Fish taco, in the small kitchen/counter

Salmon taco with pumpkin seed dressing coleslaw

Halibut fish and chips

I really like the coleslaw, because of the crushed pumpkin seeds and sesame oil dressing is much lighter than the regular mayo dressing. It companied the greasy yet tasty deep fried fish very well.

And the rating is “Best Fish and Chips Ever!” ♥♥♥♥

 

 

 

Japadog and Lolita

“Oh Hot diggity dog! So good, I am almost in tears!”

 

After the last day of school, I decided to rest a little before preparation of my exams. Just a little excuse to go outside and enjoying the spring sunshine, blooming cherry and fresh breeze of the city waking up from the long gloomy winter. We have no plan to go anywhere, therefore we decided to just stroll around the downtown area, hoping we could find something new by walking in the small streets. And Vancouver never disappoints me for finding new places to indulge myself with great tasty food.

JAPADOG is a hot-dog stand outside of Paramount Theater on Burrard street. I have read about this place a few time here and there from food reviews and blogs, and always wanted to try it. The owner of this stand is a Japanese guy who always puts on a French cook’s outfit for his little hot dog stand. Seeing him with a high straight hat does make me feel that his hot-dog it somewhat more prestige than others. And indeed it’s very tasty! There are three kinds of hot dog he serves, all of them add some Japanese twists to this typical North American street food. I tried the one called “Oroshi”, which is with grinned daikon, green onion and soya sauce for topping. The daikon’s sweetness and cool texture is a great contrast to the juicy Bavarians sausage, daikon reduce the heaviness of the oily meat, what a great combination! The price is a little higher than regular $2.50 hot dog, but it’s worth it.

The Japadog stand on Burrard street

The three specialty hot dogs

Different kind of sausage, I ordered my favorite Bavarian smokie

Mmmm~~~ Yummy!!!

(Orishi with Bavarian sausage)

Flying Tiger on 4th Ave.

Flying Tiger on 4th ave.
Flying tiger is a fusion Asian restaurant on the trendy 4th ave. It is more of a tapas bar than a restaurant, serving small items that covers variety of ethnic signature dishes. Most of the dishes are from Southeast Asia or the tropical regions. It has a good wine list, with many choice of bear or wine. I like the hemisphere and interior deco, good service. It is relatively more expensive, with the quantity of food, I will say it’s a good place to take your first date, or hang out with friends.

I’ve heard so much about Hawker street noodle, but I got disappointed this time. It just like typical stir fried noodle served in typical Chinese restaurant, but with a much higher price and smaller size. With my student budget, it’s just not enough. The mussel in Thai red curry is a hit. The donuts are fried with garlic chips, very tasty. I asked for extra donut to scoop up all the tasty sauce. Yum! The bill come up to around $40 after tax and tip. A little on the pricey side, but it’s a nice experience over all.

 

Please Eat Something!

The Fashion Victim
I can’t believe with this kind of physique, she can still walk the cat walk. I didn’ t see the show, but I bet nobody will think that piece of cloth she’s modeling is pretty. Oh God…….I feel really bad for this model. What is the standard of beauty? For me, there are two types of body images perhaps can be considered beautiful one is the voluptuous drawing of human bodies in the paintings from the Renascent period for they represents the wonder of life; the other kind is perhaps the skeleton, for the beauty of death can be stunning sometimes. But not a living skeleton… I mean, how can a person refuse all these yummy macaroons?

Happy Birthday Kathy~

My Birthday Gift to Kathy:
Strawberry Cream Cheese Mousse Cake

Burgoo— The place to go for comfort food in chilly winter

After a week of crystal clear sky and beautiful sunshine, Vancouver is back to its normal state of light rain with crisp chill breeze. Me and Kathy now have this Friday ritual of going to visit a restaurant that is both edible and affordable for a student budget; yummy food is necessary to celebrate the end of weekdays and the beginning of weekend.

This week, we adventured to a restaurant called Burgoo, right outside of UBC campus on 10th avenue. I heard about this place through various blog entries that mentioned this place for comfort food that warms up your body in chilly winter, by serving hot off the oven stews and soups. What can be better than a cup of hearty hot soup at this time of the year?

By chance all the food we ordered had French Dijon mustard dressing, thus Kathy found it a little too spicy, but after adding the Burgoo stew, the taste balanced out. The sandwich was delicious with a capital D! Same was the stew, with the biscuit sucked in all the juice of the stew, it just melted in my mouth, “Oh Yummy!” Both of us was very happy with the meal. The bill, including tip and taxes came up to $28 for two, which is slightly on the expensive side, but definitely worth every penny.

Burgoo
4434 West 10th. Ave.
604-221-7839

Lamb Dijon–
braised lamb with caramelized onion, chevre and mixed greens with dijon dressing on filone
French Green Salad–
romaine lettuce, little tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans with a maple dijon dressing

Kentucky Burgoo–
slow cooked meats with veggies, tomatoes, cabbage and okra over biscuits

La Petite France

My “La Petite France” is different from Nico’s “La Petite France”; mine is really small, a small cafe hidden in the corner of this fusion city, covered by big shiny glass windows instead of bushy greens.

Finding this dessert shop is a truly sweet by-product of my job hunting for my too-much-spare time of last semester of university life, as if I am not busy enough with my thesis writing. They were hiring for counter helper, and attached their website. The pictures of little cakes caught my eyes, and also triggered my “sweet-tooth”. I never miss a chance to pay a little visit to every dessert shop I can find. So there I was with my friend Kathy, in a gloomy Friday afternoon hoping the desserts would make my day worthy of all. And, again, beautifully decorated mini cakes never fail me. It always leave me happy with a big smile.

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La Petite France A French Dessert Café,
10th & Arbutas St., Vancouver

 

La Citron Créme:
a dome cake with orange jelly coating and orange creme filling
Le Choco-poire:
layers of chocolate mousse, spounge cake, pear chocolate mix and sweet liqueur cake

 

 

Me, enjoying a sip of creamy green rooibo tea,
which is a perfect complement of the flavorful cake

 

Where to shop for the food lovers? Grandville Island is the place to be!

Cherries, fresh cherries. but they are so expensive , I will wait till July, when this red ruby kind of fruit fills up the stands of fruit vender
Bell pepper always reminds me of the opening scene of the “Iron Chef” show, where the Japanese Host bite it as it’s the most delicious and juicy food on the planet.

Want something smoking? Try our smoking salmon bits.

Oh~~~ Meat!

Oh~~~ Spicy pepperoni HOT!!!

Strawberry corns? Are they eatable? (?_?)