Tasting Journey #7 - Twisted Fork Bistro

Twisted Fork Bistro
1147 Granville St.
Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1M1
www.twistedforkbistro.ca

Located in downtown Granville, in the area where I could say I'll never have the chance to walk by.  The restaurant is small, yet cozy; Dark, yet friendly.  Apparently, according to their website, the chiefs were former owners of a restaurant that was voted 'Best Resort Restaurant in North America 2003'.  Serving sort of tapas-like French cuisine, Zofia and I ventured out on taste buds by trying out 5 dishes, and their oh-so-fresh mussels.
The seating plan at Twisted Fork was unique.  There were the ordinary table&chairs, and then there were the wooden cubicles.  Shaped in a "ㄇ", Zofia and I sat side-by-side and faced directly at the kitchen (would have been kinda awkward if I didn't know my meal-mate well), .  The cubicle had a 90 degree seat backs, and had seating quite close to the ground (like the type that you would see in a library or public area) so that when looking straight ahead, the horizon of our vision would be below the counter top.   Essentially, we were staring at a stainless steel wall slate.  Interesting.

The construction of the menu was very creative.  Like the name of the restaurant, the menu uses a "twisted fork" as the securing mechanism for the clipboard. The serving speed was also quite fast, much faster than I had anticipated at a French restaurant.   We were so hungry and excited about the food that I had completely forgotten about documenting the foods for my blog until 2 dishes later, and until my stomach had some sense of satisfaction.

Similar to the style of the restaurant, the flavouring was rich, yet simple. If I must complain, I would say that the food could be slightly warmer for the cold Vancouver night.  Of the dishes we tried, I would strongly recommend the 1lb fresh mussels.  Very generously proportioned, it comes in a thick lustrous creme sauce that really complimented the seafood.  The dish also comes with some complimentary buns that acts as the perfect tool to clean up the extra sauce you may have after you're done with the mussels (and without a doubt, you would be so gladly to wipe that dish clean!)

 

So how much are we looking at? $50/person including tips. Not so bad for an awesome night out with an awesome friend on a Friday night eh!?

Tasting Journey #6 - Hapa Umi

Hapa Umi
Waterfront Centre Office Tower
909 West Cordova Street, Vancouver
http://www.hapaumi.com/

Recently opened in March 2011, Hapa Umi is the sister restaurant of Hapa Izakaya. Unlike its sister restaurant (coming off my vague memory from visiting Hapa Izakaya 10+ yrs ago), this place is more like a fusion lounge bar where you can chat (but could be noisy depending on the crowd), and enjoy a well-prepared meal with quality food (of course, you pay for what you get!$$). As this restaurant is located in the heart of coal harbour, the crowd is mostly well-dressed, either in suits or business casual attire; probably guests who work in the area (considering that this is mostly a financial district).  But then again, there are the odd ones like us (luckily I wasn't in my stretchy pants that day) who wanted to take advantage of the deals offered by the Dine Out Vancouver event.

FYI - Dine Out Festival is a 2-week long event that takes place annually where participating restaurants offer set menus priced at $18, $28, and $38 ranges.  It is the largest restaurant festival in Canada, and is a good opportunity and excuse to try out new restaurants!

It was really a bonus dinner for me that day.  I was at work till 6pm and was about to go home when Carol/Karen spontaneously asked if I wanted to join them for Dine Out.  Apparently, they go through the list of participating restaurants every year, carefully reviews all the set menus offered, and lists out the restaurants that they'd like to try out.  Once they see a restaurant of interest, they make a reservation for a random x number of people on a random y day (I'm guessing evenly spread out across the 2 week period).  What I find interesting is that at this point in time, they still have not finalized any guest lists yet, ha.  Once all restaurants are booked, they round up the troops... Isn't it all just amazing!? I guess I lucked out by being at the right place and at the right time! ;) 

Despite all the other amazing dishes listed on the menu, we went ahead with the $38 3-course set menu.  Once we placed our orders, the first thing that the server did was 1) provide each person with a sauce dish, and 2) filled the sauce dish with soy sauce.  Interesting.  I wasn't sure why we were all poured soy sauce since my 3-courses are: Albacore Tuna Tataki, Umi-"Salisbury" Steak, followed by Matcha Mille Fuille for dessert.  Maybe the tuna with soy sauce? hm...maybe not.  None of us touched the sauce for the entire meal.  (I guess some people just felt that since this is a Japanese restaurant, the food's have to be paired with soy sauce?)

The dishes were very "well-dressed", as they were all nicely plated and arranged with decorative sauce & "side stuff".  Tuna Tataki was really well prepared, and was by far, my favourite dish of the night.  The slightly seared edges were crispy, and sprinkled with salt & pepper for added flavour.  The fish was fresh so you can fully enjoy the taste, texture and look of the dish.  Well done!  (the avocado sauce on the side is merely for the looks).  The Salisbury steak was...O..K..A..Y.... to me, it tasted like meat ball - sauteed ground beef, shaped in a ball.  I liked the plumb sauce that complimented the meat.  It offered a great balance to the richness of the meat. All the dishes were of decent quality, with the only disappointment of Karen's dessert - White Sesame Panna Cotta (black sesame ice-cream).  I'm not sure if it was made too early, or if something went wrong with the ice-cream maker, but when the dish was served, it did not look like an ice-cream to me. Rather, it was molten milk shake (left top image below).

   

The dishes at Hapa Umi can be considered delicate, and well-proportioned.  I would consider going their for fine dining for special occasions. (FYI - a california roll is $11, but they probably use real crab meat). I would rate it as a "thumbs-up".

Tasting Journey #5 - Mandala IKI Asian Bistro

Mandala IKI Asian Bistro - 曼陀羅
2394 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, B.C. V6K 1P1
Tel / Fax: (604) 734-3715
Cuisine: Chinese Food, Japanese Sushi
http://www.brownricesushi.com/mandala/index.html


A little info on the word Mandala first....
Mandala - a Sanskrit word that means "circle" often seen in Buddhist & Hindu religion.
曼陀羅 (also the name of the restaurant) - is a type of flower also known as devil's trumpet, devil's weed, thorn apple or Datura stramonium. The entire plant is poisonous, and may be fatal of ingested.

Alexis had recommended that we go for sushi at Mandala's for our next Tasting Journey.  When she first mentioned the place, my first thought was that it did not sound very "Japanese".  This is not to say that it won't be good, but that it could be a contemporary fusion restaurant that offered awesome Japanese food.  The restaurant is located on W. 4th, amongst many other interesting independent restaurants.  I had passed by it many times on my way to work, and had always thought it served south-east asian cuisine given the name was very "buddhist/hindu".

If you were to ask me what type of restaurant this is, I wouldn't know what to say - The atmosphere was zen: bamboo deco's, a buddha statue and some black/white characters on the wall.  Yet at the same time, it had red leather couches, the ones that you would typically find in a western family diner.  In terms of menu selection, Mandala served a wide range of cuisines - from Chinese stir-fry's to sushi bento boxes to Malaysian laksa to Vietnamese pho.  Nothing that showed this is an authentic Japanese restaurant.  I guess if you feel like a bit of everything, this would be the perfect place, but if you don't know what you want, then you could be lost with the wide selections they offer.   

I should've asked Alexis for her recommendations on choices since I am assuming that she is probably a frequent at Mandala's (Alexis could not join as she was under the weather that day :(...)  However, given that she had suggested that we come here for sushi, I decided to stick with Japanese food.

I had the spicy tuna, the agedashi tofu, and the dynamite roll - nothing too adventurous today.  Spicy tuna was extremely spicy.  The tuna were so fully encapsulated in thick coats of chili sauce that I think I probably had lips like Angelina Jolie's afterward haha...As for the tofu, I liked how it remained crunchy despite sitting in the sauce, probably due to the thick fried shell of the tofu (I had to take my time with the spicy tuna).  However, though crispy, the shell was a bit too thick for my liking.   I felt that I was eating a lot of fried batter, and not tofu.  Thick batter or soggy tofu? It's that fine balance that determines a well-made agedashi tofu dish. Dynamite roll was an interesting try...I had ordered brown rice instead of the typical white.  It was my first time trying sushi with brown rice.  I thought I'd go healthy, but like anything healthy, you end up compromising taste, hahat.  This just again validates my theory that unhealthy food typically tend to taste better ^^.   Sushi with brown rice do not as "sticky" nor "sweet".  It did not "melt in your mouth" - my definition of a good sushi.   Claire's vegetarian bento box looked like just like any other bento box you would get anywhere, and as for Zofia's laksa, not a fan of coconut sauce.

From my review above, it sounds like the place isn't very attractive.  However, of the 2 hours at Mandala, I did notice that there is still a constant in-stream of guests (of which, all are none asians...hm....)  The restaurant did serve as a good central location in Kitsilano for talking and hanging out.   So would I come here for sushi? No, but maybe I'll try their pho next time.

Tasting Journey #4 - Judas Goat

Judas Goat

Blood Alley, Gastown  

http://www.judasgoat.ca/


Despite of having lived in Vancouver for 20+ years, the first time of hearing of a street named Blood Alley was ironically introduced to me by a colleague of mine who's only been living in Vancouver for 6 months;  When I was living in Taichung, my coworkers would oftentimes ask me for recommendations on restaurants or places to visit.  I guess it is true that locals tend to stick to the few restaurants that they are familiar with, while visitors are more adventurous in venturing out interesting places.  Given the mentality that you will not be staying in the same city forever, you have the motivation to get as much out of it in as little time as possible.

Judas Goat is definitely one of those interesting places.  Although located in the beautiful area of Gastown, the restaurant is hidden away in the street behind.  Blood Alley does not have the same beautiful European street lights, nor red brick buildings.  Rather, it felt more like a back alley where homeless people find corners to rest.  We saw people walking through the street, but mostly in pairs, quickly with a destination in mind.  It's not a sketchy place, but I would not feel comfortable striding down this street everyday at night by myself.  The restaurant, however, is completely a different story.

Judas Goat fits approximately 20 people. The atmosphere is more like a deli than a restaurant where all tables are tall, and with high chairs.  Walking into the restaurant, the first thing you see is the counter where all the food is prepared.  Most of the seats were reserved (well, it is a Friday night), we were seated by the window.  Though this type of seating made it difficult to talk face-to-face, it was nice to be able to look out the window.  I've always liked sitting by the window and observing people as they walk by despite the minimal traffic in a back alley.

The weather has been extremely cold the last few days.  So to start off our meal, we each ordered a glass of wine to warm up. Looking at the selection, there weren't too many "warm" food.  They were mostly like hors d'oeuvres or 懷石料理, perfect for us to try many different dishes.  Portions are not huge, therefore we ended up sharing 9 dishes.  My favourite is the cacciatori (first image below);  The spanish cheese also well complimented the cured meat; Mussles were tasty, and so were the pork & chard empanada.

The crowd started picking up around 7pm, and by 8pm, the entire restaurant was packed.  Despite the popularity, I was surprised that there were no guests waiting in line for a table.  I guess considering the location of this restaurant, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these guests are frequent visitors who knew they had to make a reservation in advance to get a seat.  I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant - cozy yet contemporary.  However, one thing that did slightly bother me was the noise level.  As the evening progressed (and possibly after everyone had a few round of drinks), I had to talk louder and louder to be heard, and to also have to slightly read lips to hear.  Definitely not the place if you are looking for a deep conversation, but highly recommended as a place to start your weekend.

How much does it cost? Less the wine, I would say we are looking at an approximate $36/person. Definitely needed to order the Polenta dish as a filler.