the dining diva

Thai dragon bowl

My youngest brother, Darren, is the epitome of laid back. Every time he’s in town, we go for dinner, and it’s always me who suggests the restaurant. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s just that he’s usually open to anything.

So at our last visit, when I asked him if he had anywhere that he wanted to try and he suggested The Naam, I was pretty excited. First off, I didn’t have to come up with the restaurant and secondly, I was geared up to try The Naam.

The Naam is a vegetarian restaurant on fourth and there’s always a lineup. Another thing that I didn’t know off the bat was that it’s open 24-hours a day. Which is a bit of a rarity in Vancouver (unless you count Denny’s, of course).

We rolled up around quarter past seven and as usual, there was a line up. We stood in line and I surveyed the scene. It sort of looks like someone’s cabin, complete with mismatched tables and chairs and creaky floorboards. “All part of the charm, I guess,” I thought.

After about 10 minutes, Darren and I were shown to a table on their covered patio. A server came up to us to take our order right away. Like, right away. We had barely opened the thing before she was there. We asked for a few minutes.

The menu is pretty diverse, covering Thai to Japanese, Mexican to… poutine? Looking around, many people had gone for one of their dragon bowls. I settled on a Thai dragon bowl, while Darren decided to have the teriyaki stir fry.

And then we waited for the server to come back to take our order. And waited. And waited. I think we waited probably another 15-20 minutes before she came back to take our order. I think I’ve figured out why there’s always a line up at The Naam – it’s not ‘cause it’s so popular, it’s because the service is so terrible.

Our food finally showed up (maybe another 15 minutes?), but they had screwed up Darren’s order (put it on rice instead of noodles) and also forgotten the cashews. But mine looked great, so I dug in.

The Thai dragon bowl is a coconut curry sauce on steamed veggies and rice with deep-fried tofu, sprouts, grated carrots, beets and cilantro. The first thing I noticed was… it was tasteless. I was a little confused, because to me, the words “Thai curry” and “tasteless” just don’t go together. Oh but it does, my dear reader, at The Naam. Curries are supposed to be bold, spicy and smooth. This was weak – no other words to describe it.

The deep-fried tofu had clearly been sitting around for a while, so it basically resembled my fingers after I’d been soaking in the bath too long. I expected crispy – instead I got soggy.

teriyaki stir fry

I hoped that Darren’s was better… but it wasn’t. At least mine looked good – his looked like something a guy who was learning to cook would come up with. The stir fry has onions, garlic, ginger, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green and red pepper, organic tofu, teriyaki sauce, and topped with cashews (or not, in Darren’s case).

As I saw him reaching for the hot sauce, I asked to take a bite. Nothing. Not one once of flavour. I asked my laid-back brother if he just wanted to add a bit of kick to his meal by adding the hot sauce. He said he wanted to add anything to his bland dinner.

Both of us ate our meals in silence. I think both of us hoped for some sort of miracle and that our food would magically become tasty. Not so much.

Thankfully, the server was quick with the bill. I’m sure it was so that they could cram another two unsuspecting patrons on the patio.

Now I know I’m not a vegetarian, but my lunches are usually vegetarian, as are one dinner every two weeks or so. I also understand that the selection of vegetarian restaurants in this town are slim. But ugh. There has got to be a better option than The Naam.

If you’re looking for a large selection of vegetarian menu items, then maybe The Naam is for you. But if you’re looking for a vegetarian meal with some actual flavour, do yourself a favour and go buy a pack of Yves Veggie Hot Dogs.

The Naam
2724 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver | BC
604.738.7151
thenaam.com

Campagnolo

The milestone birthday is a cause for a celebration. And for someone who likes food as much as I do, choosing a great restaurant for that celebration is a difficult choice. I didn’t want something too out-of-reach for some of my friends, but yet it had to be something that would rise to the occasion.

So I chose Campagnolo to celebrate my 30th birthday.

Campagnolo is a restaurant that I had heard a lot about, despite the fact that it only opened about six months ago. It was added to Condé Nast Traveller’s 2009 Hot List Tables and mentioned in Vancouver Magazine’s restaurant awards in the new and notable section.

Plus I loved the concept – locally sourced ingredients served Northern Italian style. And the people behind it have a great pedigree – the chef, sommelier and front-of-house manager are all from Fuel.

One of the quirkiest things about the restaurant is its location. When I was giving the address to my friends, one said, “Oh yeah – there’s some really hot restaurants opening up on South Main.”

“Um, yeah,” I agreed. “But Campagnolo isn’t in that part. It’s more north. Like, next door to the Ivanhoe?”

“Oh,” he replied. “Well, if that’s what you want…”

But trust me. It’s well worth the trip to the edge of the Downtown Eastside. The room itself is kind of downtown loft meets mountain lodge. We sat in the back by the bar, which gave us a lovely view of the binners walking by (okay, so the view is not the reason to go). The ceilings are laced with exposed pipes, and are framed by a honey-comb pattern of fir slates.

It was a bit challenging for me (especially during a relaxing birthday dinner) to be critiquing all the food that came by our table that night. But let me give you a little sample of what we had.

To start, a bunch of us ordered the crispy ceci, marinated olives and the pan-fried spot prawns. I decided on the Polderside chicken brasato and shared a side of the soft polenta for my main.

Ceci is chickpeas in Italian and I don’t think my friends and I knew what we were getting ourselves into when we ordered them. They’re made by taking cooked chick peas and drying them off before frying. They then toss them up with some lemon olive oil, mint and peperoncini. They’re lightly crisp on the outside, but then buttery soft on the inside. It’s like taking hummus and frying it. Do not go to Campagnolo and not try these!

The olives were delightful and you could tell they were cured in-house. The hazelnuts added a nice crunch to the dish, and they all hinted of the orange that was used to make them.

I had never had spot prawns before (a shame considering I live so close to the boats that drop them off next to Granville Island). I suppose I didn’t expect them to be so… whole. Maybe I expected them to be de-veined and not served so rustic-style. Don’t get me wrong – I love rustic food (Campagnolo actually means “country bumpkin” in Italian). But it seemed like a lot of work to get through to the actual meat of the shrimp.

Seeing that it was my birthday and all, I decided to have a glass of the Mionetto, Pergolo Prosecco Spumante to go with my dinner. I thought their wine list was small, but diverse enough and reasonably priced. I liked that it focused just on BC and Italian wines. And even though I didn’t try it, several of my friends raved about the Allegro cocktail – amaro montenegro, amaretto, and limonata served tall over ice.

Some thought our server over-explained each dish and the concept of the restaurant (when he found out he hadn’t been there before). But I personally loved to hear the story of the place and each of its dishes. But maybe I’m just kind of nerdy like that.

Our mains were all great, but don’t expect them to look pretty. As I mentioned, this is Italian done rustic. But the flavours and care that were put into each dish were well noticed.

The pastas, I should mention, are meant to be a first course – they are not North American sized. Having said that, I think that the concept of having pasta as a first course is a great one, but then it should be priced accordingly. Fifteen bucks for a small bowl of pasta seems excessive to me.

The chicken was delicious and fell right off the bone. I didn’t expect the dish to be so soupy though. Should I have ordered some bread to sop up the juices? But the polenta was gorgeous. I have a sweet spot for cornmeal dishes, as one of my favourite Ukrainian dishes is a cornmeal casserole. The polenta was creamy and thick and melted in your mouth. I imagine there was a tonne of butter, but who cares? It was my birthday after all.

We finished the night with a citrus panna cotta (complete with birthday candle!), and I had the Batasiolo Moscato d’Asti desert wine. I should have been bold and tried a grappa, but maybe I’ll leave it for next time.

The panna cotta was creamy and smooth, with just a hint of citrus and crushed hazelnuts on top. It was a perfect end to a perfect birthday dinner.

Campagnolo
1020 Main Street
Vancouver | BC
604.484.6018
campagnolorestaurant.ca

duck breast

One of the great things about being a transplant to Vancouver is that you get a lot of visitors. And what better excuse to explore your city than acting as a tour guide?

So when my university friend, Erik, was in town for a conference, I jumped at the chance to show off the culinary delights of my city.

I was dying to try Le Marrakech – one of the city’s only Moroccan restaurants. I tried to make reservations a few days before, but the system said that they were offline and to check back soon – which I did, and got the same result. So I tried calling, only to get voicemail. But then I just assumed it was ‘cause I was calling during the day and they didn’t open until five.

But when Erik and I walked up to the restaurant and there were bars on the doors with a giant padlock (and it was 5:30 p.m.), I knew something was up. After doing a little investigation later on, despite the fact that there’s nothing up on their website, it seems that Le Marrakech has closed. Their phone lines have now been disconnected, but other than a “closed” notation on urbanspoon.com and foodvancouver.com, there’s nothing to let the general public to know it’s gone. Too bad. I was looking forward to some good Moroccan. Any suggestions?

So there we were, on a random Tuesday in the middle of Gastown. Really, the options were endless. But we decided to check out Guu. I had been to their Thurlow location a number of times, and wanted to see how the Gastown location was different.

First thing of note – it’s a little hidden. We actually walked by a number of times before finally calling directory assistance to get the exact address. Even then, we had to get directions from a security guard next door. Look for the sign and it’s up a flight of stairs.

The venue itself is miles larger than the Thurlow location – which is not necessarily better, just different. And at 5:30 p.m. there was no line-up – virtually unheard of at Thurlow.

guu tataki

Guu is izakaya – which is, as I explained in the Hapa Izakaya review, essentially Japanese tapas. But unlike Hapa – which is sleek, modern and borderline fusion – Guu is straight-up authentic. Well, this coming from someone who’s never been to Japan. But that’s what people tell me anyhow.

The menu can be a little confusing, especially if you’ve never been to an izakaya restaurant before. It took us a while to navigate it and decide how we wanted to order. But one thing that was definitely calling my name was the sake mojito.

I’m not big on cocktails these days – they’re usually too sweet for me. But the mojito (if done well) is typically the exception. And this one was great. Not too sweet at all, and the sake added a nice dimension to the drink. In fact, (and maybe this is the dangerous part) I think you couldn’t taste the alcohol in it as much as you might with a rum version. Nonetheless, I stuck to one. After all, it was a Tuesday.

So after himming and hawing, we came to a conclusion: kimchi pork bibimbap, yaki udon, duck breast, sho lon bo, guu tataki, and maguro with five colour sauce.

The duck breast came first. It was tender and delicate, and the light sauce that came with added some dimension to it. It was served atop a small salad, which gave it a nice crunch.

sho lon bo

Our guu tataki was next. The beef was lightly seared and served with plenty of very finely sliced green onions, which seemed to be doused in rice wine vinegar, and added a bit of tartness. It was also served atop shredded diakon, which also gave the dish some texture variation.

The kimchi pork bibimbap is a Korean hot stone bowl – similar to the ishi-yaki at Hapa. Our very polite sever arrived with the bibimbap and proceeded to whip the hell out of the dish. I then let it sit for a while to let the flavours to meld. Although it was quite flavorful, it was still kind of one note – spicy. Which isn’t entirely too bad, but I think I preferred Hapa’s ishi-yaki, with the tomatos and sprouts and other accoutrements.

The yaki udon was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary. Worth ordering again, I guess, but given the many other awesome things on the menu, I would rush out for it.

I wasn’t sure if I had ever had sho lon bo before, but I will certainly again. They are traditionally a dim sum item, which apparently translates to “soup dumpling.” According to Wikipedia, sho lon bo “are traditionally filled with pork, but variations include other meats, seafood and vegetarian fillings, as well as other possibilities. The characteristic soup inside is created by wrapping solid meat gelatin inside the skin alongside the meat filling. Heat from steaming then melts the gelatin into soup.”

Mmm. Whatever. Little pops of salty, warm flavours bursts – that’s how I describe them. Mental note to self for next dim sum trip.

We finished our meal with the maguro with five colour sauce. Maguro is tuna in Japanese and I was intrigued, yet nervous, to order this dish. I usually like my raw fish quite basic to let the natural flavours shine through. But thankfully they didn’t smother the fish with the sauce, allowing you to add as much as you like.

It was a very pretty dish, indeed, and the tuna was laid atop some equally buttery-soft avocado (doesn’t avocado make everything taste better?). The sauce(s) was a nice compliment to the rich flavour of the tuna and avocado. And the whole dish was topped off with some crunchy sprouts. They sure seem to pay attention to texture at Guu.

maguro with five colour sauce

After we finished our meal, the place was noticeably busier (which seems to be an odd trend with me – really – I don’t go for dinner that early!). One of the things that I’ve always appreciated about Guu (or any other Japanese restaurant), is that there isn’t the whole, “I’m not your server, so I can’t help you” attitude. Our bill came right when we wanted it, along with some frozen grapes (trust me – they’re delicious!).

So it wasn’t exactly the exotic culinary adventure I had in mind for my out-of-town friend, but I think it was definitely a great example of the solid and creative food offerings this city has to offer.

Guu Otokomae (Gastown)
#105 -  375 Water Street
Vancouver | BC
604.685.8682
guu-izakaya.com