More Than Just Noodles

After a long day of exploring the city on my own, including lunch with some friends I knew from Brandon, I was getting exhausted and hungry.  Fortunately I'd made arrangements to meet my parents near the end of the Canada Line at Lansdowne Station for dinner in Richmond.  It was a few days since we were able to enjoy dinner on our own, and we decided to do so at a restaurant that features more casual Chinese dining, Michigan Noodle Restaurant.  It was a nice change of pace as it also reminded me of my childhood and teenage years when we'd go to these types of restaurants for lunch or dinner when visiting the Toronto area.

A serving of Green Radish and Carrot Soup.

A Taste of Malaysia on Vancouver's Broadway

With so much time spent with relatives, finding time for me and my parents to eat by ourselves, let alone me and my friends living in Vancouver, was a challenge.  With a little bit of luck, though, I was able to meet up with two friends and their daughter in spite of our respective hectic schedules.  With one of them working at the major health care complex near W. Broadway and Cambie St., and that intersection right on the Canada Line, my main transit route from my grandparents' to downtown, it was a no-brainer to have lunch in that area.  Out of a few possible choices, we ended up going for a Malaysian-style lunch at Banana Leaf Malaysian Cuisine, a local franchise.

Kalamansi Soda

Of Pigeons and Winter Melon Soup

Another dinner with the Vancouver relatives was in order, but this time one of my uncles realized dinner should be had at another place partly for variety and partly to allow us out-of-towners to try something different.  For that, it was decided that dinner should be at Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant on Vancouver's Main St.  Though this restaurant does specialize in dishes made with fresh, live seafood, it also specializes in Roast Squab, or Roast Pigeon.  I'd first discovered this dish when I travelled to Hong Kong at the age of 10.  A restaurant just north of Sha Tin was famous for its Roast Squab, though at that age I was perhaps more enticed by the carp-filled ponds in the courtyard.

Roast Pigeon/Squab

Lunch in the Park - Part 2

The open part of the kitchen at Seasons in the Park.

Once again my grandparents wanted a big extended family lunch, and it was decided this time to try a restaurant closer to where they lived.  It's not often one can have a house with a front yard facing a major city park, but Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park, arguably second in significance only to Stanley Park, makes the surrounding area's real estate market, hot as it already is, possibly even hotter.  Though the distance to the restaurant was absolutely walkable, chauffeuring duties for the grandparents dictated otherwise on an overcast yet pleasant day

Seaside Seafood Lunch

I had heard of the historic village of Steveston, but I had no recollection of visiting there, so a stop there was in order during a driving tour of the coast between the Canada-US border and Vancouver itself.  Steveston is now really part of the urban fabric of the City of Richmond, but in its glory days Steveston was a major fishing and seafood canning town.  The Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site stands as testament to Steveston's rich history of the fishing industry.  Fishing boats still dock at this village today, oftentimes bringing back fresh hauls of seafood to sell directly from the boats.

Beer-battered oyster from Sockeye City Grill.

A look inside a deep-fried oyster.

Go Fish... Goldfish, That Is

The open section of Kingyo's kitchen.

Specials menu at Kingyo.

Thanks to being Canada's Pacific Gateway, Vancouver has strong Asian communities and a dining scene that matches.  Japanese cuisine is no exception, and unlike in Toronto, izakayas have been established in Vancouver for a longer period of time.  I definitely enjoyed my first izakaya experience, and I was hoping my experience in Vancouver would be just as well.  I knew from my parents' and sister's prior experience last year that the place we wanted to go was more subtle, but it was in the end for my parents' benefit as it was less raucous than most izakayas would typically be.  Kingyo, Japanese for "goldfish", is located in one of several dining hubs, Denman Street in Vancouver's West Side, and there are actually several izakayas on Denman.  Unlike Guu in Toronto, reservations are allowed at Kingyo and highly recommended; I fortunately did manage to reserve the last available table of the evening.

Lunch in the Park - Part 1

A meal with relatives was in order again, this time for brunch in Stanley Park.  Stanley Park actually has four restaurants within its expansive grounds, and my grandparents originally wanted to go to The Teahouse in Stanley Park, one of four restaurants of the notable Sequoia Company of Restaurants.  However, the same-day call to make a reservation and the popularity of the The Teahouse meant that we could only have a late brunch there.  We therefore opted to go for another notable restaurant in Stanley Park, The Fish House in Stanley Park.

Red Star Dining

Vancouver is arguably one of a handful of Canadian foodie meccas thanks to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the wealth of agricultural resources in the region known as the Lower Mainland and being a cultural nexus in Canada for the Asia-Pacific nations.  Though I intended to try a wider variety of cuisines during my Vancouver trip, I couldn't deny myself the opportunity to try some Chinese cuisine here.  (It was also at times unavoidable as I was mainly visiting my grandparents.)  So, for my first dinner in Vancouver in years, we went to Red Star Seafood Restaurant on Granville St.

Soy Sauce Chicken

Dining Out in the House

Earlier this year I'd heard from a friend or two that Brandon had a decently authentic Chinese restaurant.  Curious, late in the winter I tried a couple of noodle dishes for take-out and found them acceptable.  I kept this place at the back of my hand, and it came handy when my parents arrived in town.  Unable to make them dinner after work, I suggested that we go to Wei Na's House for dinner.  Located in the downtown area, it was previously known as Wei Na Restaurant before it became under new ownership.

Eggplant in Yuxiang Sauce

Hello from Vancouver!

It appears I've now established a pattern of a few weeks of a flurry of activity on my blog followed by a long period of calm. Once again it has happened with my involvement in Ultimate and community theatre. However, I'm now taking a vacation on the West Coast, and on my second day I've managed to try quite a few foods. There will be quite a few blog entries forthcoming I assure you. Stay tuned over the next few weeks!