Review: Vegan Omakase at Cofu Chinatown

Chef Akiko (left) getting ready to serve omakase at Cofu

Earlier this week I was invited to experience vegan omakase at Cofu Chinatown, opened by chef Akiko Gulkison in Vancouver. 

It's unlike Shoku Vegan Sushi in Kerrisdale, where food is made to look and somewhat taste like fish and meat.

Silky chawanmushi without eggs

Instead Cofu reimagines an omakase meal using mostly vegetables and some fruits. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to know how to create flavourful vegan and vegetarian food. 

For the most part chef Akiko does a great job. In an 18-course dinner she showcased the sweetness of carrot, how chawanmushi can be just as silky smooth without using eggs, and miso-marinated eggplant paired with snow fungus on rice wrapped in nori can make a delicious pairing.

There are some interesting items like a skewer of zucchini covered in tofu that is marinated and then grilled, or a nigiri with potato mixed with various vegetables, and combining sake-steamed shiitake with zuke peach.

I wasn't quite sure about the radicchio wrapped in kombu and then made into nigiri -- the seaweed was unable to tame the leafy chicory's infamous bitterness. 

Miso-marinated eggplant with snow fungus

Meanwhile chef Akiko's version of ochazuke, where a tea broth is poured over rice was quite bland. The same could be said of the shojin dashi, which was made with vegetable trimmings, but perhaps not simmered long enough to extract more flavour.

Nevertheless, the meal ends with a dessert of matcha  sponge cake and red bean paste, followed by a lovely palate cleanser of a scoop of beet sorbet. The dinner could have ended there, but we are served ceremonial-grade matcha tea with homemade sweets.

Cofu is a warm and inviting space, and a rarity to see two female Japanese chefs serving eight people at the bar. 

On the weekends, the restaurant is a coffee joint, and will soon serve breakfast paninis using vegan cheese...

Refreshing beet sorbet for dessert

Cofu Chinatown, 488 Gore Avenue, Vancouver, BC. Tel: 604 336 1166

A Bowl of Taiwanese Flavours

Taiwan style noodle soup at BBT Cafe

Today I met up with some friends for lunch in Vancouver's Kerrisdale and we decided to go to BBT Cafe, a Taiwanese restaurant.

I'd eaten there a few years ago and hadn't been back since.

I ordered the Taiwan style noodle soup ($15.95), which includes a soy-infused egg, bits of braised pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts with wheat noodles.

This dish is called Taiwanese danzai noodle soup, which translates as "wooden stick noodle soup", or "slack season noodle soup", which was made by fishermen in southern Taiwan. 

During the off-season, or "slack season", they would peddle the noodles by carrying them in pots suspended from wooden sticks to make some money until the season came to catch seafood.

Enjoyed this bowl of noodles, a relatively light lunch and liked the chewy texture of the wheat noodles!

BBT Cafe, 5979 West Boulevard, Vancouver, BC. Tel: 604 266 2195

Tasty Asian Eats in Vancouver's Kerrisdale

Bubbling hot (and mildly spicy) tofu soup with kimbap, banchan

Yesterday we tried a good value-for-money lunch in Vancouver's Kerrisdale. It's known for being an area where either seniors live or teenagers hang out because there are two secondary schools in the area. There's also a lot of Asian people residing in the area too, so there are Cantonese, Japanese, Thai and Korean eateries.

One of them in Sandeul, a Korean restaurant on West Boulevard. It's a spacious place that's bright an airy. I went there over a year ago when I was starving so it wasn't helpful that the place was packed to the gills and took a while to get my lunch.

Colourful and substantial portion of kimbap

This time a relative wanted to check out Sandeul so we went yesterday before noon and it wasn't too busy. We sat near the kitchen and checked out the menu. We immediately zeroed in on the lunch special available from 11am to 3pm: kimbap (seaweed rice rolls), japchae (sweet potato noodles stir-fried with vegetables), and tofu soup (choice of beef, seafood or mushroom) for C$22.99. 

We did have to wait a while, but it was worth it. The tofu soup arrived first, literally bubbling hot! Mine was mushroom with tofu, and mild spice level. The tofu was silky smooth and substantial, mixed with slices of mushroom. It was really comforting to eat on a chilly day.

For a lunch set we were expecting four to six pieces of kimbap, but we received a dozen each, a generous portion. They were delicious, filled with egg, cucumber, pickled radish, carrots and spinach. There was so much food we had to pack these in takeaway boxes.

The set lunch includes banchan, small dishes

However, we got a small plate of japchae that was actually just right, as well as three banchan: kim chi, pickled beansprouts, and gluten. We had a few refills...

Sandeul has another lunch special that's $25.99 featuring more dishes like salad, grilled mackerel, bulgogi, kim chi pancake and tofu soup. 

We were full -- but wait! We were a block away from a highly recommended Taiwanese drinks place called Macu. 

My cousin has raved about the place last summer and now I was just steps away from trying it myself.

Except when I saw the menu I was completely overwhelmed by how much choice there was! Did I want mango? Strawberry? Milk tea with boba? Or taro with milk?

Avocado, mango and milk tea drinks

Eventually I settled on strawberry avocado smoothie, with bobo or agar agar chewy cubes, diced strawberries and avocado mixed with milk and slushy ice. It wasn't too sweet and highly addictive that I finished the drink pretty quickly! Once the ice melts the drink doesn't taste as good...

Is it any wonder this place has a steady stream of business all day?

Sandeul

6019 West Boulevard

Vancouver, BC

604 428 3388

Macu

5971 West Boulevard

Vancouver, BC

Picture of the Day: Bubbling Claypot

This claypot has pork liver slices, eggplant and rice rolls

Southern Delicacy is a neighbourhood Chinese restaurant in Vancouver's Kerrisdale area and these days presents some pretty solid Cantonese dishes. A group of us eat there once a month for dinner not just because the location is convenient, but also because the food is great.

One of our favourite dishes on the lunch menu that we order in advance for dinner is the pork liver, eggplant and rice roll hotpot.

The large claypot arrives bubbling hot, the slices of liver just cooked so they are very tender, the eggplant soft and sweet, balancing the slight bitterness of the liver, and the rice rolls soaking up the savoury thick sauce.

So good!

When a Dish Keeps Giving

Braised duck with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, beancurd skin

Once a month my parents and their friends meet up for dinner for 12 people at a Chinese restaurant called Southern Delicacy in Vancouver's Kerrisdale. In the past year the dishes have been fantastic and there are some dishes we order again and again, like the pork liver, eggplant and rice rolls in hotpot, and steamed choi sum with minced pork and egg plant.

This time we tried the restaurant's signature dish, which is not on the menu -- braised duck with canned bamboo shoots, mushrooms, beancurd skin rolls, and napa cabbage. The giant pot arrives bubbling at the table, and the sauce is mesmerising, flavoured with ginger, star anise, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and probably duck fat too.

This time with sea cucumber, fresh bamboo shoots

The portion was so large that we couldn't finish it, and we took the leftovers home, but weren't able finish them in one sitting.

In order to finish the rest of it and to soak up the sauce, we rehydrated some sea cucumber and sliced some fresh bamboo shoots. I had bought some large bamboo shoots at T&T supermarket, though after removing the tough and rough outer layer, there wasn't much left!

Nevertheless, the end result was fantastic, both the sea cucumbers and bamboo shoots taking on the flavour of the sauce, and the latter adding a crunchy texture to the dish.

It's awesome when you have a leftover dish that keeps on giving!

A Chicken Dish with Two Different Results

Uniform and delicious roast chicken with rice at Chef's Choice

A gourmet dish that's definitely not Chinese home cooking is roast chicken with glutinous rice. It definitely showcases the chef's skills as it requires de-boning the chicken and then flattening it butterfly style and adding a layer of cooked glutinous rice underneath. It's then roasted so that the skin is extra crispy.

By coincidence I managed to sample the same dish yesterday and today with extremely different results.

Last night we ordered it at Chef's Choice on Broadway and we were impressed when this roast chicken with sticky rice dish came to the table. The half portion of chicken was uniform in size, portioned into two-bite pieces. There was equal parts rice and very tender, flavourful chicken, topped with crispy skin.

A very different version that looks bloated

We were still thinking of the dish fondly when we went to Li's Chinese Restaurant in Kerrisdale tonight. It used to be called Lok's and we hadn't been there in years. The restaurant had recently changed hands, with more northern dishes, specifically spicy ones from Chongqing, though the former Cantonese-speaking owner works there on weekends. 

This place also had the roast chicken with glutinous rice and we ordered a half portion.

When it was served to us, it looked like a whole chicken, and was stuffed to the gills with rice -- the ratio was at least twice as much rice as chicken, as if it were bloated from carbo-loading. Each piece was so big that we were soon full (on rice) and we had to pack up the rest.

While it's great that this chef knows how to make this dish, and promotes it as a signature dish, it would be better if he could further refine it. This roast chicken with sticky rice dish is not about more bang for the buck, but about flavour and finesse, which unfortunately missed the mark here.

The Last Pavlova of Summer

The pavlova is the signature summer dessert

This afternoon I happened to have dim sum a stone's throw away from Sweet e's Darling Desserts, which had its last day today. The landlord did not renew their lease.

On Instagram yesterday and this morning they posted that they would only be selling its famous pavlovas from 1pm onwards, first come, first served.

As I came out of the dim sum restaurant about 12.45pm, I saw a queue in front of the bakery, and a friend from Pilates class waving her hand at me. She was at the back of the line so I joined her.

She told me she had tried to order the pavlova last week for today, Father's Day, but they refused to take her request. She was particularly annoyed as she knows the two sisters who own Sweet e's from since they were kids. "If I don't get a pavlova I'm going to get very mad at them," she said, and I told her I was keen to watch this interaction.

Waiting in line to get into the shop

Finally when 1pm rolled around, customers went into the shop one party at a time, and soon the pavlovas in the refrigerated showcase were gone. Each time someone came out with a white box, they would say, "They're making more in the back, you're fine."

My friend told me Sweet e's' pavlova is the best -- I told her I'd actually never eaten it before, as my mother makes a pretty good meringue shell which she fills the base with freshly whipped cream and then mixed fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and mango. But since this was the last day to get one from Sweet e's (until they find another location), I had to try it at least once.

Meanwhile I told her the mousse cakes were the best -- in particular lemon, or raspberry. So light, fluffy and refreshing.

After about 20 minutes my friend and I were at the front of the line and walked into the store. She walked straight into the kitchen and got her request fulfilled of getting an 8-inch pavlova, while I ordered a 4-inch one. Mine was almost complete, if I waited another 15 minutes.

Every subsequent customer who came in mourned the fact the shop was closing, and when they were told they would have to wait 30 minutes, 40 minutes for their pavlova, they were very happy to, and made sure they paid before they left and returned for their dessert before 5pm.

Finally mine was ready to go -- good enough for three of us to have a bite of to try.

And indeed it was light, airy, a touch sweeter than my mother's meringue, but for a store-bought pavlova it was delicious. The fresh cream was a delight, and it was topped with sliced strawberries and mango. 

Glad I had a chance to try the bakery's signature summer dessert. And am already looking forward to Sweet e's opening somewhere else (hopefully nearby!) in the next few months.

Sweet Memories to Come to an End

Some last treats from Sweet e's in Kerrisdale

Our go-to cake shop is Sweet e's in Kerrisdale. Owned by Chinese-Canadian sisters, the cakes look decadent but aren't too sweet. They make the best lemon chiffon cake, though raspberry and mango come a close second.

We've ordered birthday cakes and desserts for Christmas parties here every year, but that will come to an end next week.

A few days ago the 20-year-old cake shop announced on Instagram that the landlord was not renewing the lease and Sweet e's will have to close June 15. 

This afternoon I was in the neighbourhood so I went in to buy a few small cakes. One of the sisters told me and three other customers that the landlord had only told them on May 26, and has plans to demolish the space.

At first the sister who is the head baker was worried about where they would go and continue functioning as a cake shop. But her sister said it was time for a break and she agreed. Hopefully in the fall they will find a space to ramp up again for Christmas.

One customer was looking to order a cake, and the baker is trying to use up the rest of the ingredients instead of having to buy more, which is understandable. "My wife is going to be so upset when she hears the news," he said. "I want to buy up all your cakes!" he exclaimed.

I picked up some small cakes and tarts -- a carrot cake, blueberry cheesecake, banana cream pie (tart), chocolate mousse, salted caramel, and a brownie cake. 

We had them for dessert tonight, cutting each one up so we had a bite of each and they were all so good.

Will miss them and hope they reappear somewhere nearby. In the meantime they do deserve a good break and think carefully about what they want to do next.

Review: Legato Cafe's Thai Lunch

Green curry with coconut milk, eggplant, bamboo shoots

A friend who works in Kerrisdale asked if we could have lunch at a restaurant she had never been before. She was concerned the food might not taste good (and didn't want to be blamed).

But I'm all for trying something new, even if it doesn't work out. Cause you don't know until you've tried it.

The place is called Legato Cafe, and its signage outside promotes that it also serves Thai dishes. 

Spring rolls with salad comes with the lunch set

We were curious.

Inside it looks like a cafe, with coffee, tea, baked goods and some salads, soup and sandwiches. 

The lunch set menus looked good -- about C$15 per person with a starter and a main course.

We ordered two different mains, green curry and pad Thai and sat down.

The waitress was busy, but efficient. We made our order and paid at the cashier and then sat down where she gave us glasses of water and utensils.

The starter featured two halves of a deep-fried spring roll choc full of vermicelli and strips of carrot, with a nice portion of salad, a simple mound of lettuce with shaved carrots and a ranch dressing.

Not long afterwards we were served the green curry with chicken, and a side of rice. The curry initially had a mild taste that got hotter at the end, perhaps thanks to the chilli flakes sprinkled on top. The curry had Thai eggplants, bamboo shoots, and carrots mixed with coconut milk. 

Pad Thai with bean sprouts and peanuts, no chilli

The curry was quite addictive -- I couldn't help but keep spooning more on my plate even though it was quite spicy!

Meanwhile the pad Thai arrived, a bit too much ketchup-y sauce that made it look orangey than soy sauce, and tasted sweeter too. We also chose chicken for this dish (the choice was beef, chicken, pork or tofu). It really should have prawns in it, but cost-wise it would be more expensive.

Nevertheless, in general it had some of the main ingredients, but lacked scallions, chilli flakes and tofu. 

In general we were quite pleased with the food, not completely authentic, but at a decent price. We'll be back!

Legato Cafe

2299 West 41st Avenue

Vancouver

604 264 1666

Picture of the Day: Pedalling Smoothies

Want to pedal for your smoothie?

Around lunchtime today I finished my long 8K trek around Pacific Spirit Park and went to Memorial Park West to see if the Dunbar Little League was playing.

They were in the midst of a game against Kerrisdale and the snack shop was open. I could get a freshly made hamburger (with lettuce, tomato and pickles) for C$7.

As I waited for my hamburger, there was a drinks stand nearby and two stationary bikes with a curious contraption. They were selling strawberry and mango smoothies -- you could make yourself!

For the same price as a burger, you could get fresh whole strawberries or mango chunks with water in a blender, which was placed in front of the handlebars. When you push the pedals, the blender starts to move. Cute DIY gimmick, but don't know if they got any takers! 

Picture of the Day: Cherry Blossoms

Cherry blossoms like pink popcorn on branches

Vancouver is turning pink! 

Cherry blossoms were coming into full bloom in Kerrisdale and I managed to take a few pictures.

They are definitely different from plum blossoms, which have fewer flowers and are darker in hue, whereas cherry blossoms are more dense in terms of petals and are hung in clumps that look kind of like pink popcorn hanging from branches!

There are thousands of cherry trees

For Vancouverites there's no need to go to Japan to see sakura -- we have over 43,000 cherry trees in the city. Hundreds were planted in the early 1930s by the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama in honour of Japanese Canadians who served in World War I. 

Then in 1935, immigrant Japanese couple Bunjiro and Kimi Uyeda donated a thousand young cherry trees to the Vancouver Park Board.

The city has thousands more cherry trees than the National Mall in Washington DC, which only has 3,800.

And it's not a Japanese city with the most cherry trees -- that honour goes to Changwon, South Korea with 360,000 trees.

Intriguing Vegan Sushi in Kerrisdale

Two pieces of mango and avocado nigiri at Shoku

Vancouver has some vegan restaurants, or places that serve some vegan dishes, but what about vegan sushi?

A place called Shoku in the city's Kerrisdale neighbourhood touts itself as a vegan sushi restaurant. I had heard some good things about it from an acquaintance months ago and I finally checked it out the other day.

California and dynamite rolls with vegan crab

It occupies the space that was previously a Japanese restaurant, and some of the staff here are Japanese. We went for a late lunch and there were still several tables occupied on a weekday. The menu is quite extensive with so many different kinds of dishes to choose from that it's kind of hard to decide.

Most of them feature vegetables, while others are vegan sashimi or sushi.

The first dish that arrived at our table was the tofu katsu, where medium-firm tofu was covered in panko and deep-fried. We dipped it in a tonkatsu sauce and while it was nicely deep-fried, it wasn't particularly outstanding, but thought it would be different than ordering agedashi tofu.

Next came two rolls on a plate -- California and dynamite. Both had vegan crab meat but we couldn't figure out what it was exactly so it didn't taste like a California roll per se. The dynamite roll included deep-fried asparagus, avocado, and cucumber. 

Assorted vegetable tempura plate

Looking more closely at the menu online now and the shiitake maki would have been a better choice, or veggie roll with corn, beets, avocado and cucumber.

The assorted vegetable tempura was delicious, nicely deep fried and presented. The shiitake mushrooms were spread out like fans, and also on the plate were carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin and asparagus.

We also ordered the mango and avocado nigiri, complete with vegan mentaiko! Refreshing and different.

Our final dish and most intriguing was the spicy tuna sashimi. It was not presented like slices of raw fish, but cubed on a plate drizzled with hot sauce mixed with Kewpie mayonnaise on a bed of greens. The cubes were red with thin whiteish lines to make it look like fish.

The taste was definitely jelly like but at the same time had a slight fish smooth texture. It's hard to describe but perhaps that's why it was cubed to be eaten one at a time; a slice would give it away.

The "sashimi" looked fishy, tasted like jelly

By the end of the lunch we were too full for dessert. There were so many other dishes to try that we will probably be back!

Shoku

2260 West 41st Avenue

Vancouver, BC

604 566 6556 

Four Vancouver Businesses Gutted by Fire

The three-alarm fire started at 10pm at the back of Nando's

This morning we woke up to the news that some businesses in a neighbourhood near where we live were destroyed after a fire last night. It's quite a shock as I was just in that area yesterday to do some errands. 

The fire reportedly broke out around 10pm last night behind Nando's restaurant, an Afro-Portuguese chain that served flame-grilled chicken with a spicy sauce. The fire spread to the next door businesses called Deer Island Bakery and Yummy Yogurt, as well as Pho Tan Vietnamese Restaurant and Sandy Farm Market. They are located at 41st Avenue between East Boulevard and Maple Street.

The four businesses were torn down today

Periodically we would go to Sandy Farm Market for fruits and vegetables. It was a Korean-owned store and they closed on Sundays to go to church.

Not only were the businesses gutted, but also people who lived in four units above one of the buildings were homeless.

Fifty-five firefighters fought the three-alarm fire to get it under control. 

"At this time we can't say we don't know exactly where the fire started. There's so much damage right now... We'll be trying to ascertain the cause," said assistant fire chief Keith Stewart.

From photographs taken from the scene, it looks like Nando's has collapsed into itself, though Stewart has said at least the four businesses will have to be demolished, and an excavator was brought in Monday to take them down.

It's so tragic to hear about the fire -- which results in losses for business owners and people being out of work.

Picture of the Day: Panfried Crispy Vermicelli

Peek inside and this dish offers a variety of textures and tastes

A small Chinese restaurant in Vancouver's Kerrisdale called Southern Delicacy has a noodle dish many customers like to order because the kitchen does it so well.

It's panfried crispy vermicelli, and either with fuzzy melon and shredded pork (CAD$22.95), or with bitter melon and beef in black bean sauce (CAD$23.95).

We ordered the latter today and I can confirm it's delicious. The table of two next to us ordered it too.

Admittedly the restaurant did not invent this dish, but it makes me wonder why it wasn't created earlier.

It arrives like a package, the crispy vermicelli on top, already cut like a pizza. Underneath is the stir-fried slices of bitter lemon and beef in black bean sauce.

Put them together and you have a crispy rice noodle that soaks up the sauce and that crunch -- it's not too oily and not jaw-breaking hard either, like some other crispy egg noodle dishes.

The play of textures, soft and crunchy from the noodles, combined with the taste of sweetness from the beef and bitterness from the bitter melon makes it a complex dish, well executed and tastes great.

Then you eat too much of it and have a food coma afterwards... 

Southern Delicacy

6055 West Boulevard

Vancouver, BC

604 559 3939