Prepare to Descend on the Richmond Summer Night Market on Sunday, July 6th, at 7 pm

This Sunday will be my first trip to the Summer Night Market in Richmond this year, and I'm inviting fellow foodies out to meet me. Meet me 7 pm in front of the food stalls. I am unsure of the exact layout of the site, but I am guessing that there will be one main entrance to the market, so proceed through that and continue until you find the cluster of food stalls (hopefully this will be obvious and in one location). I will hover there precisely at 7 pm, wearing a small official nancyland button, and will have buttons to give out. Look for a small group of drooling foodies looking like they are waiting for other foodies. We will gather there, and then pounce upon the food stalls so if you make it there later, look for us amongst the goodies. If you plan on coming to the market to look for us, leave me a comment at this post or an email and we'll look out for you. Bring cash in the form of loonies and toonies, an empty belly, and friends.

Like a Roving Colony of Ravenous Foodie Army Ants: new Nancyland Meet at the (Richmond) Summer Night Market!

I've been waiting and waiting for the Richmond Summer Night Market (12631 Vulcan Way, behind Home Depot on Sweden Way) to open. First, I was just waiting for the summer to come; then I heard about the original founder cancelling the event due to the lease running out; and then found out that Paul Cheung, Lions Communications, was a new organizer that had rushed in to save the day (yay!); and then I heard about legal problems, construction sabatoge, and finally (and the most heart-breaking) plumbing problems which delayed the food vendors for weeks after official opening. But the word on the virtual street is that the food vendors came back last weekend (June 21st), and things are in full swing!

So that means that I can finally make an outting to the market, and I'm inviting Nancylanders to join me in wandering the food stalls as a pack, devouring all the Asian street food that crosses our path like a ravenous colony of foodie army ants. I will announce a trip for next weekend, either July 4,5,or 6th.

Transit from Vancouver looks pretty easy. Get yourself to Metrotown station and take the 430 Richmond Exchange from Bay 8 and get off on Bridgeport Road, just west of Sweden Way or take the 98 Burrard Station B-Line to Bridgeport Road and then transfer to the 407 Gilbert that travels along Bridgeport, getting off just before Sweden Way. There are pay parking lots as part of the market too, details can be seen at the link to the summer market website.

Post a comment (or email me at nancyland.vancouver.foodie.fun@gmail.com) if you are interested in attending and feel free to leave a preferred date. I am looking at starting early in the evening, at 7 pm when the market opens, so that we have empty bellies to start, and the grazing serves as dinner.

Jonker Street Restaurant

Just one visit so far to the little Jonker Street Restaurant (1128 Pacific Blvd, at Cambie St. 604-688-8565), and I was thoroughly impressed with the Malaysian food there. It seemed very authentic, tasty, with fresh bright flavours and not too greasy. The room is bright, casual and clean, and the service is very personable. It seemed like the man serving us was the owner, and he was a great host. It has a very relaxed atmosphere.

I must have roti canai ($2.80), a flaky somewhat sweet bread served with a curry sauce, anytime I see it on a menu. So Bac'n girl and I started with sharing an order of that (next time I'll get my own order) and an order of gado-gado ($7.50), a mixed salad of tofu, bean sprouts, green beans, potato and boiled egg, and covered with a tasty peanut sauce. The Roti Canai was one of the nicest ones I've had, and the Gado-Gado was a perfectly crunchy and filling salad. Bac'n Girl had been advised by a Malaysian friend that would serve their KL Hokkien Me noodles ($9.50) with the traditional bits of deep fried pork fat that you might find if you ordered the dish in Malaysia (but omit it if you don't ask for it...I'm thinking they probably found that the typical Yaletowner would not be attracted to "deep-fried pieces of fat" on a menu). The bits of fat were delicious of course, and the thick yellow noodles with mixed seafood and vegetables braised in a special dark sauce were great. I ordered their Nasi Jambori ($13.90) with was a sampler of chicken curry, beef rendang and prawn sambal. It was served with boiled egg, side salad, pappadum and jasmine rice. Everything was very tasty, and I loved having such a variety of dishes. I was impressed with the quality and freshness of the little salad too, and it was all very filling. I remember enjoying their big plump prawns in the spicy sambal sauce. In fact, we both noticed that someone sitting beside us ate everything on their plate, except for two big prawns, and it seemed such a waste that we were tempted to say that we'll eat them. They have some Malaysian drinks too, and Bac'n Girl and I ordered a couple of those too, though I can only remember that mine was cold and sweet, and hers was a hot tea. And for dessert, the Sago Gula Melaka ($3.80), chilled sago (a root starch, like tapioca) pudding served with coconut milk and fragrant palm sugar was perfect.

I'll definitely go back, and it's a great addition to this area; geographically just outside of the hub of snobby trendoids that makes up much of Yaletown, but worlds away in terms of atmosphere and value. If you park in the Urban Fare underground parking lot, Jonker St. will reimburse you for the first hour.

Kitsilano Farmer's Market and Greek Day on Broadway

I'm checking out the nibbles at two summer events today:

1. the Kitsilano Farmer's Market at West 10th Avenue and Larch St. runs Sundays 10:00 am - 2:00 pm throughout the summer.

2. Greek Day on Broadway between Blenheim and MacDonald Avenue is just on today, Sunday, June 22nd, from 11:00 am - 9:30 pm.

If you happen to spot me there today, ask for the first ever Nancyland collectable item. I will leave it as a surprise for now, but I can tell you it has Ha Gow, my little dumpling character on it. I'll be wearing one myself, and I'm wearing grey pants and a black top. And then there's the free jazz down in Gastown all day, with the last band going on at 6:30 pm.

Century

I was pleasantly surprised by Century Restaurant and Bar (432 Richards St. between Pender and Hastings St., 604-633-2700). Even though I know enough to take the reviews on a particular post-your-own-restaurant-review type website with a grain (or a big pinch) of salt, I was still a bit wary having read the reviews after choosing the restaurant. Well, I wound up having a really satisfying meal there with great service, and left completely impressed. The restaurant has changed chefs a few times, so this restaurant has likely been different places at different times during its short life, possibly explaining the mixed reviews in its past. The building itself has certainly been different places during its long life, starting out as bank at the turn of the century. However, there's no dispute online or otherwise that the current decor is amazing, and I was looking forward to seeing it. The architectural details of the 1911 bank are all there, with the beautiful barrel vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and even the old bank vault. The restaurant design is also gorgeous with it's hip Latin cowboy feel, Che Guevara and cowboy murals in rich browns, and beautiful suede-covered curved booths. The seating was not only attractive but extremely functional and roomy. Sitting in the half circle bench feels very cosy, and the half circle tables can be put together for larger groups. The restaurant is actually a bit smaller than I imagined and very comfortable. It's a room that makes you want to live in it. Imagine it as the ultimate party loft with a big bar for all your swanky parties...even if you don't have swanky parties now, with a pad like that, you'd have to start.

But when we arrived at the beautiful refinished heritage building, we initially felt a bit of trepidation as there appeared to be only one customer - a man at the bar - and no staff in sight. In actuality, there was a table in the back around the corner, and the one server was just away getting something. Another large party did arrive later in the evening, but I do hope that people come to this restaurant and keep it alive.

I started with an "El Che" ($7.75) - one of several tasty sounding cocktails. I liked it so much, I even reproduced a version of it at home later. It's made with pomegranate vodka, apple juice, fresh cucumber, and fresh jalapeno. Spicy hot and refreshing at the same time. The server was sweet, genuine, down-to-earth and personable (which seems to be increasingly rare in the mid to fine dining scene). And she made a great "El Che" too.

The evening involved a bit of indulgence. First, this was simply because I was dining with Bac'n Girl. We seem to naturally enable each other's food splurging on any occassion. Secondly, we were talking about boy trouble, and that always seems to warrant a "what the hell, go for it" attitude with the ordering. I'll start worrying when I start instigating the boy trouble just to get the great post-break-up wallow-meal. Until then, it's merely a happy side effect.

Bac'n Girl has a thing for chicken tostadas apparently, so we had to order it. This one ($10) with its fried corn tortilla and chicken topping and mesclun, was nice and tasty, though I could have taken more spice and heat in the chicken filling personally.

We then had their queso relleno's ($10), which was on top of cheese crisps that tasted just like parmesan crisps (though the menu now says warm manchego) with a tasty chipotle potato filling on top.

We then went with a fairly safe choice by sharing a nice steak. We chose their Alberta ribeye ($22), and the fun thing about their mains is that you get to choose the sauce and two sides. Mix and match can be fun if there are some tasty sounding choices, and you are cocky like the two of us in our food matching skills. We decided easily on the green peppercorn port sauce, grilled veggies and barbecue frites. No regrets at all. The steak was properly cooked to our preference. In other words, we ordered a medium rare and received a medium rare, just the way it should be. It had tasty charred bits of fat on the outside and a rich flavour (ribeye is my preferred cut), and the accompaniments all had good flavour too. I remember the sauce being particularly tasty.

I like the Latin-inspired menu quite a bit, and there seems to be many things on there that I would like to order. There very easily could be some misses on that menu too, but we didn't order any that night.

The dessert menu was similarly tempting. I settled on the Century cheesecake ($7) - a continuation of the Latin themes, this was an avocado lime cheesecake, sour cream mint topping, praline crust, served with fried plantains, sesame candy, lemon sorbet, raspberry coulis, and strawberry garnish. The cheesecake was delicious. It was smooth and creamy and really tasted of avocados and limes. The crust was a perfect accompaniment (a bit of a sticking point for me, as I seem to be a bit particular about pie and cheesecake crusts in general). The fried plantain slice was fantastic with it too, and the contrasting texture and acidity of the lemon sorbet was also a great choice. With dessert, I had a nice satisfying post-meal coffee in one of the most comfortable mugs I've ever held (use it in your right hand).

Bac'n Girl had the Dark Chocolate Fortress ($7), a somewhat phallic mocha glazed, dark chocolate tunnel with a crème anglaise centre spilling out the end, served with French Vanilla ice cream and almond brittle. This was also very good.

I found out later that the old bank vault is actually a private dining room. That is SO cool - definitely worthy of my mental list of possible large dinner party venues. That tickles the same part of my brain that made me as a child vaguely yearn to have a birthday party in a McDonald's caboose whenever walking past one. Their upstairs lounge has a perfect name to reference the old bank building, "Heist." I'd like to check that out sometime too. I think this place might be suffering a bit from an awkward location, but it is not difficult to find. It just seems to have a bit of an "out of the way" feeling. Which makes it even more appealing to me, as I don't always like the hustle and bustle of the latest new thing. I like the idea of a secret little retreat. I think it's worth looking for. On this one visit, I saw reasonable prices, good flavours, an interesting menu, comfortable seating, great service and a great relaxed atmosphere (mid-week). I'll check it out again.

Krazy for Kingyo

"Kingyo (871 Denman Street at Haro St., 604-608-1677) has style, charm, good taste, and a sense of fun." I wrote that sentence quite a while ago, after one of my first visits to what is now one of my favourite restaurants in the city after several visits. And looking at the sentence now, they sound like attributes I might look for in a date as well.

But what I realize is that there are even more important attributes that I like about Kingyo - an authenticity, a sense of family/teamwork, a spirit of generosity, a vitality, a positive energy, and a general gratitude that you are there, which are all things I really want in a date that I could be serious about. My point is that there is a lot of depth to this restaurant, which may not come across in peeking through the window because it is a very slick, dimly lit, stylish restaurant, which is usually packed with all sorts of happy, shiny people. But it is as much about the human warmth delivered by the staff (front of the house and kitchen act as one unit with it's open kitchen and with kitchen staff even popping out from behind the counter to greet regulars and joining in on some merriment), as it is about the amazing food and the fun atmosphere. It seems that all the Lower Mainland izakaya people are tied to each other in some way, and I think this place was started by some ex-Guu staff.

You can get a lot of information peaking through a window though, sometimes. I think the moment I really fell in love with this restaurant was shortly before last Christmas, when I happened to be walking by, and my eye caught a glimpse of the most adorable fuzzy reindeer costume. Then I realized that ALL the serving staff had on these ridiculousely cute reindeer costumes and were actually doing their entire shift in them. Here's the key though - they all looked happy doing that. That amazed me. I do have a thing for mascot costumes anyhow (and yes, I actually collect pictures of mascots, even though I'm in my thirties). I had to go in and have a meal. Damnit, now that I think about it, I should have gotten a photo with one of them to add to my collection (crossing my fingers for this Christmas). So I guess the sense of fun is way up there on my list for me.

The good-naturedness of the restaurant is infectious too. One visit I had the pleasure of meeting and really, in a sense, dining with, one of the regulars - a very drunken old Japanese man. He explained to me that he had lived here in Vancouver over 30 years but his English still wasn't very good. I was seated at the counter, and he was seated next to me, and one of the very first things he said to me, in a thick accent, slurred with the effects of his heavy drinking at another establishment, and with an apologetic yet unashamed giddiness was "I'm sorry, I'm very very drunk!" He clearly loved this restaurant, and insisted on ordering food for me, and explaining Japanese culture to me through the food. I resisted at first, but his drunkeness was cute and non-threatening, and he was pushy, and who am I to refuse the windfall of a chance hands-on class on Japanese food culture? Kingyo's positive energy was everywhere, and they happily welcomed this drunken old man like their own each night, pouring more red wine into his glass, as he set about to educate me about Japan. Although I've once lived in a Japanese home in Osaka for six weeks, and I've been enthralled with the cuisine since my first sushi experience at 12, I still managed to learn new things from this stranger this strange evening. It played out like my very own personal food version of the Karate Kid (except for some weird male-female dynamic that I was trying to avoid).

"Take the beef tongue off the hot rock now, Daniel-san...Beef tongue on, beef tongue off...Here are the three salts...This is sansho. Try it...No, you eat the prawn's head. It is only good part. You eat it. Yes, eat the eyeballs. All of it."

"Okay, Drunken Mr. Miyagi"

Eating the deep fried prawn head (only after insisting Drunken Mr. Miyagi eat one first), trying sansho mindfully, learning about the special rock needed for the hot rock dish, and really thinking about the pickled ginger cleansing my palate between different types of sushi and sashimi to be able to appreciate each sushi piece were all revelations for me that evening. He watched me intensely each time I tried something, which made me a bit nervous, and he even got on my nerves when he was telling me I needed a man, but in the end was just a harmless old divorced man who drowns out the loneliness four - five nights a week who told me how happy he was that night because he met me, and asked nothing from me, other than my company and the opportunity to share his culture. It was one of those cool little odd experiences that usually happen when you're travelling in a strange town, and this little restaurant is almost enough to make you feel like you've travelled to some far away place. It was also fun because I so rarely get to play the Daniel-san role in a restaurant, and most naturally revert to the Miyagi role of introducing other people to my finds, and they ask me food questions with the assumption that I am the wise one and I know the answers.

My last visit at this restaurant was a really delightful one, where I excitely introduced Captain Pickled Herring to the place. We sat at the communal table with the bamboo in between. It's a very functional design element - enough bamboo to feel not too exposed and have a sense of privacy, but because it is all one table, other diners tend to talk to you and recommend things to eat.

We had a stone bowl dish because I love that crusty effect when the rice sits for a while on the hot stone bowl. We had their delicious negitoro sushi ($6.80 for three pieces), some salmon sashimi, and a nice mixed shredded veggie tempura. The meal was full of the excitement of new experiences and possibilities. Seeing the place through new eyes made me appreciate the details more and reminded me how special certain touches are. I think I've been enjoying the hot towel custom any time it happens, but maybe I've started to take it for granted. And I've gotten too used to the whole crew yelling welcomes and thank yous upon entering and exiting.

There is never a shortage of items to order, and there is a full page of specials too. On my first visit, I was told they had some fresh tai (snapper) that they recommended. Tai isn't usually an item that gets me that excited, but it wasn't until that day that I realized how good it can actually be. It must have been the freshest tai I had ever had. It really blew my mind that I could still experience something new like that, considering the amount and quality of sushi I've had in my life. I also had their pretty sashimi trio, served on a half bamboo stalk, garnished with Japanese maple leaves ($14). The presentation of their food is amazing, and the cute little goldfish logo (Kingyo means goldfish, and is a recurring image in Japanese art) can pop up delightfully as a little carved carrot garnish. Their cocktails are fun, and they have a Japanese children's soda that comes in a special bottle, which is served with grown-up vodka. I like their fruits icecube sangria ($6.50) and their lychee cocktail. When Bac'n Girl and I went, we wanted to order everything on the menu. We managed to narrow it down to six dishes, and got out of there at a very reasonable $62 (after tax, before tip, including a cocktail and tea). The prices are quite good, really (despite what you might read from diners on another site). There is a bibimbap stone bowl dish ($7.20) in addition to the unagi rice one. Their chicken kara-age ($6.80) is the thinking diner's chicken kara-age, with its accompanying three types of salts to taste and discern. Pork cheek ($6.80) was delicious. And of course, we just couldn't resist ordering their "famous invicible and undefeated Tan-tan noodle" ($8.80). Don't worry about it being overhyped - theirs is a delicious rendering of the Shanghainese dish.

If you go and there's a wait, get on the list, leave your cell phone number if you have one, go on a little walk, and come back. Or practice catching flies with chopsticks. You don't run into a place like this every day. A restaurant like this is worth the wait.

Best Vancouver Restaurant Name Ever - Gastropod!

Anyone who knows me knows that not only am I obsessed with food, but I'm also obsessed with invertebrates (more commonly known as "bugs") and all things zoology related. Gastropod means stomach foot, and is the name of the wonderful group of animals that includes the beloved snails in the French dish, escargot. It's my favourite restaurant name ever, I think. However, escargot is not my favourite gastropod ever. That spot is taken (at least for the moment) by the stunningly awkward creature called the Dromedary Jumping-slug (Hemphillia dromedarius). Yes, to me, the key word here is "jumping." Imagine in the depths of the Vancouver Island forests, a very rare (rare enough to be considered BC species at risk) hump-backed brownish slug, that sort of flails about quite vigorously to evade predators (do check out the slow-motion action on the video clip). This animal is so marvelously weird, you'd think I'd have made it up. But no, they're out there. Anyhow, I digress. This blog is about Vancouver restaurants, and perhaps you might be more interested in Gastropod the restaurant (1938 W. 4th Avenue, between Maple and Cypress St., 604- 730-5579), rather than various writhing or non-writhing slimy beings.

Okay, so onto some photos taken in August 2007 when Bleuet came into town. A Bleuet visit means one thing in particular to me - some good eating is going to happen! This woman can out food/wine-geek me! And that is a lot of fun. So after this great group meal at Gastropod with really fabulous food from Chef Angus An, and great atmosphere, I figured I'd be going back soon, but it has yet to happen, so I'm posting my first visit photos now...and maybe some Nancylanders out there can pipe up about their more recent Gastropod experiences. So here's to eating with your eyes (and not many notes because it was just too long ago)...

I'm still a fan of foam, and this one was really tasty, covering yummy chanterelles.

A Foie Gras dish (ordered by some of the others)

The Scene, with my red wine flight in the middle

Pork Trio

Halibut

How Hip People Eat Black Forest Cake

Molten Centre Cake Before

Molten Centre Cake After

Gelées for Everyone