Light Up Chinatown's Food Fare

BC smoked fish cakes at one of the stalls

Every summer the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation holds Light Up Chinatown! A two-day festival to entice the city's residents to come down and check out the neighbourhood, have some Chinese street food, maybe patronise one or two restaurants, and re-visit some sights, like the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, the Chinese Canadian Museum, or the Vancouver Chinatown Storytelling Centre.

This year's event started today and I arrived half an hour before it started officially at 11am. Booths were still getting ready so I wandered around and met some people I haven't seen in a while, catching up with them.

Chicken sausage hot dog with pickle cream drink

For me, Light Up Chinatown! is about the food, so at 11am my first stop was at Say Hey Cafe, where the sandwich eatery was doing a collaboration with Dicky's Dumps, best known for their frozen handmade dumplings.

On their menu, the Dumpling Glizzy sounded interesting, where they took their chicken and ginger dumplings but made them into a sausage that was boiled then grilled, and placed in a sesame hotdog bun, with thinly sliced cabbage, mayonnaise and scallion oil on top.

The 'pickle cream' lemonade definitely piqued my interest and I had to try it. If you are a fan of pickles, it's definitely an enjoyable drink, slightly tart, slightly vinegary. Best of all I carried it around with me and the ice cubes took a while to melt so the drink was still cold! I almost went back to get another cup...

Then I headed to Hawkers Lane on Columbia Street where the main festival was held. 

Chicken wings, spring rolls, wontons & fish balls

First up was chef Dez Lo using seafood from EatFish and seasoned with chilli products from Holy Duck Chilli. I had the BC smoked fish cakes that were fantastic -- I could taste the smoked fish flavour and two slices was a good hearty portion with spot prawn chilli oil and spicy mayo.

I was already half full when I made it to Mama in the Kitchen with chef William Lew. They were cooking up a storm with four items to choose from. The HK curry fish balls I've tried before and they are delicious and nostalgic, while I liked the crispy spring rolls choc full of vegetables and dipped in a plum sauce.

New for me to try were the chili chicken wontons in a shrimp garlic chili oil, and the num num chicken wings. The wings were grilled then seasoned with a mala dry spice. The wings were juicy fresh off the grill, and got progressively spicier as you ate them.

Recreating a radio studio in the 1970s

I gave my stomach a break by heading into the new section of the Chinatown Storytelling Centre in the basement. It opened about two months ago and features Chinatown in the 50s, 60s and 70s. There are mini recreations of apothecaries, a mural of the Marco Polo, a supper club that became well-known for its smorgasbord and live entertainment.

The space includes a large screen with objects that float around -- you can touch it and a window pops up with more information about it. Otherwise visitors need to have a tour guide to show them around to explain everything.

My last stop was at Saan Saan Cafe, a few blocks away, but that meant walking along Main Street where numerous people hang out in the Downtown Eastside. It can be daunting to walk along there, but for the most part they are harmless. It's just shocking how the three levels of government cannot come up with a comprehensive plan to help these people get off the streets and rehabilitate. 

HK style milk tea gelato sandwich

The tables at Saan Saan Cafe were almost all occupied when I arrived at 2pm. I got one of their specials for the month -- a Hong Kong style milk tea gelato sandwich. While it looked like a big portion, it was actually delicious. The gelato had a lovely fragrant milk tea flavour with bits of cookie in it for texture in between two slices of firm cake.

Review: Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen

Large portions are served at Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen

When my friend AY calls and says we should meet up for lunch, it means a culinary adventure for me.

He's a walking guide book to food in Vancouver, but not the Michelin Guide restaurants. AY is a bona fide lover of street eats and will go to great distances to find where good food is and then share his discoveries with other foodies... like myself.

The restaurant is know for its Bun Rieu

Today we met up for lunch at Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen on Victoria Drive near East 33rd Avenue. I managed to find parking on a side street and AY was already in line. The place was absolutely packed for a Sunday.

Diners slowly trickled out and finally we got a table right by the window.

Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen used to be located a few blocks further south, but moved here almost four years ago. It is known for its crab vermicelli as well as homemade fish balls, so we ordered both with rice noodles and a dish of salt and pepper chicken wings.

Not long after two giant bowls arrived, along with a plate heaped with raw bean sprouts, lime wedges and fresh basil leaves.

Fish cakes and vermicelli in a clear broth with dill

Bun Rieu ($19.95) is described on the menu as "special crab soup with vermicelli". It has a tinge of red, but it's not spice at all; the colouring is from the crab paste mixed with egg, creating fluffy mounds floating on the surface, and underneath are some shrimp, slices of pork, deep-fried tofu puffs, slices of Vietnamese pork sausage, and tomato wedges along with lots of rice noodles and coriander and spring onions.

Meanwhile Bun Cha Ca Dac Biet ($18.95) is fish cakes with rice noodles in soup, featuring a clear broth, with not only fish balls, but also sliced fish cakes, Chinese celery, tomato wedges, lots of dill, and spring onions. The fish balls are not a round ball per se, but somewhat springy in texture.

This dish is the lighter of the two, but both are substantial in terms of portion.

The chicken wings, or Canh Ga Rang Muoi ($17.95), need to be dipped in the lemony pepper sauce to give them flavour, otherwise on their own they were bland, as the batter didn't have much taste.

Chicken wings dipped in a lemony pepper sauce

Somehow over the course of two hours we managed to finish practically all the food!

Needless to say I soon suffered a food coma after I got home...

Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen, 5155 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC. Tel: 604 321 2711 

Delicious Gluten-Free Bites at Saan Saan Cafe

The other day I took my friend visiting from Toronto to eat in Vancouver's Chinatown. Well on the edge of Chinatown, dodging the homeless people along the way. 

Saan Saan Cafe has been open for over a year and it's a gluten-free cha chaan teng offering savoury and sweet items along with drinks from Hong Kong-style milk tea and yuenyeung (coffee and tea), to cocktails from Friday to Sunday.

The cafe is housed in a building that owner Eric Siu's multi-generational family lived in since 1950 when his grandparents moved in with his father and aunt.

After family members moved out, the building, which was constructed in 1904, fell into disrepair. Siu and his two siblings discussed for years what to do with the space and decided to turn it into a cafe.

It's extremely helpful that Siu is a practicing architect, though he says there was a lot more work that needed to be done, from replacing old pipes and installing new electrical wires.

The end result is a high-ceilinged space that is very welcoming and comfortable. The washrooms are also nicely decorated!

It's also helpful that Siu's siblings, Sarena is a registered dietician, and Jamie is a food scientist, to develop gluten-free items for the cafe.

The focus on gluten-free food is due to Siu's sensitivity which has resulted in him not being able to eat a lot of Chinese food in conventional restaurants; Saan Saan Cafe allows him and others to eat food they used to enjoy, or introduce it to friends or partners with celiac disease or other gluten sensitivities.

They started offering baked goods, like black sesame caramel, and pineapple coconut cookie, a mash-up between bolo bao and cocktail buns, and char siu triangle puffs. 

A few months ago they introduced a savoury menu and I finally tried them the other day.

We sampled the soy sauce chicken, which is pretty straight forward, some chopped chicken on a bed of rice. The chicken is tender, and has lots of flavour in every bite. It's a substantial portion which is good to share.

Another is curry fish balls which are usually made with gluten to give them their bouncy "QQ" texture. Here they are homemade and have more of a meatball texture. But with the delicious curry sauce and gluten-free, it's still decent and the sauce is a good way to finish off the rice in the first dish.

Our favourite has to be the prawn toast, a thick meaty chopped shrimp filling in between white bread that has been deep-fried and then sliced in half. It's slightly crunchy on the outside, and firm and slightly bouncy in the middle, and the sweetness of the prawns come through.

I had a glass of refreshing Ribena lime soda, my friend had the iced Hong Kong milk tea.

We were full by the time we finished everything and got some cookies (brown butter hojicha chocolate and pineapple coconut) to go.

Saan Saan Cafe

227 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

HK Immigrants Gather at HK Fair

A semi-outdoor area featured numerous stalls to buy items

Today was the fourth annual Vancouver Hong Kong Fair and I finally checked it out for the first time. Just like last year, the fair was held at The Shipyards in North Vancouver and I'm glad I went. It's the closest thing for like-minded Hongkongers to meet up, share and enjoy their culture.

I was on a tight schedule with a concert to attend in the early afternoon, so I took the bus downtown just before 9.30am and caught the seabus at Waterfront station to get there at 10.30am before it opened half an hour later. There was already a small line for ticket holders that already formed though the signage wasn't very clear.

Back copies of Apple Daily were for sale

The fair opened a few minutes after 11am and they scanned my QR code and gave me a bright pink bracelet before I could wander around the outdoor fair in a covered area. It's a good space, and I was glad I went early because I can see how it can get crowded very quickly.

There were all kinds of stalls selling handmade beauty products, cookies like salted egg yolk shortbread, treats for dogs shaped like egg tarts (my cousin's dog wolfed them down later), Chinese books, jewellery, Lion Rock T-shirts and tote bags, Hong Kong-themed coasters, key chains and artwork.

One stall was run by activists who are raising money to help people back in Hong Kong. There was a stack of Apple Daily newspapers, and included the copy of the last publication of the paper for C$50. Manning the booth was former Hong Kong radio host "Giggs" Edmund Wan Yiu-sing, who was jailed for 32 months for sedition and money laundering who are raising money to help people back in Hong Kong. 

Curry fish balls with peanut sauce

Another section was food one could buy and eat there, like curry fish balls, various sweet drinks with sago in them; I tried one with durian, coconut milk and sago. Hong Kong milk tea was also available as well as mango mochi.

Recently re-elected NDP MP Jenny Kwan was at the opening ceremony and gave a bilingual speech explaining that she was originally from Hong Kong and grateful to be in Canada. She promised she would help ensure the Canadian government would approve all Hong Kong immigrants' applications for permanent residency. She got a big round of applause.

In an indoor space was the cultural section, where UBC Cantonese had a booth, an area showing the black and white photographs of legendary photographer Chan Kiu, who passed away in Vancouver last year at the age of 96. There were pictures of Vietnamese refugee children eating from basins, the funeral of Bruce Lee, and Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to Hong Kong.

There were also mahjong tables for people to play the game, or learn how to make paper lanterns. An interactive exhibit featured various places in Hong Kong with photographs matched with scents from those areas.

MP Jenny Kwan spoke in Cantonese

I also got to meet up with some people I had met before and catch up with them, and get to know what others are doing in Metro Vancouver, from holding Cantonese summer camps to drawing workshops.

After about an hour and a half, I made it back to the seabus with two minutes to spare. As I was leaving there were more people lined up to go in, and even more spilling out of the seabus. Now I know why people make an effort to go because settling in Vancouver isn't easy; at this event they feel strength in numbers, and feel understood and appreciated.

Chinatown Eats: New Town Bakery & Restaurant

Barbecue duck with thick rice noodles at New Town Bakery

Earlier this week we went to New Town Bakery & Restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown for lunch and by the time we got there after 1pm, all the tables were occupied and we had to wait. Luckily it wasn't too long -- after a few minutes some customers left and we got a booth for four of us.

The fish cakes were better than the fish balls

One friend was from out of town in London and he was eager to try some barbecue duck because it's not something he can eat there. And just his luck it was available with thick rice noodles too.

We ordered two bowls and my friend and I had fish ball with ho fun or wide rice noodles in soup.

The bowl of fish balls arrived and I was surprised to find they were a bit small -- you can't tell from the picture but they were miniature. While they weren't that bouncy in texture -- like the ones I had in Singapore -- the thick fish cakes were actually quite good.

Meanwhile the two friends who ordered the barbecue duck were impressed by the serving and promptly dug into the bowl that also came with some boiled cabbage. While the meat was tender it was a bit on the chewy side, but it satisfied the craving.

Flaky egg tarts for dessert

There was enough room for dessert and we had a round of warm egg tarts with the flaky pastry crust that hit the spot.

New Town Bakery

148 East Pender Street

Vancouver, BC
604 689 7835

Trying to Revive the Restaurant Industry

The revamped Temple Street market attracted massive crowds

The Hong Kong government is doing its part to save the restaurant industry by giving away HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) in HK$100 vouchers to the public, but one industry leader says this is but a "small Christmas gift" for the sector.

The first batch of coupons will roll out on Wednesday, with the second batch on January 10. 

But Simon Wong Kit-lung, a lawmaker and chairman of the Quality Tourism Services Association says the vouchers are hardly useful for both the diner and the restaurant.

Anyone want a HK$100 dining voucher?

"I do not think residents would make special arrangements to go out and dine solely because they want to use the vouchers, or change their travel plans and stay in Hong Kong for Christmas," he said.

A HK$100 voucher ain't much, considering how much it costs to eat out these days, it really isn't much of a motivation.

Instead, Wong said the government should do more to attract more residents from Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area to visit Hong Kong as the city has become more "quiet".

He suggested reviving the multiple-entry permit, but it was suspended in 2015 when Hongkongers complained about parallel traders taking advantage of this permit and making numerous crossings daily to buy goods in Hong Kong to sell across the border.

Fish balls to Turkish coffee at Temple Street

Meanwhile nowadays Hongkongers are going up north to Shenzhen to spend their money to eat because it is much cheaper, there's more variety and lots to do and see.

Or maybe the government should take a page out of the recent Temple Street revamp which saw a massive crowd of people on the first night on Friday.

There are 32 food stalls, selling items from fish balls to imitation shark fin soup, and even French-style rack of lamb. 

People will check it out for the first few weeks, but if there aren't other new things to try, then it won't be sustainable for long...

Picture of the Day: Fish Ball Noodles at New Town Bakery

The fish ball with rice noodles in soup looked promising -- not

Went back to Chinatown again a few days ago and had a bite to eat at New Town Bakery and Restaurant.

I had just eaten a pork and vegetable bun and some radish cake at Wai Kee Dim Sum, but was only half full and needed a bit more sustenance.

So at New Town Bakery -- which was completely full -- I sat by the counter and ordered fish balls with rice noodles in soup.

When it arrived, it looked promising, a few slices of fish cakes with some round fish balls, preserved vegetables and the rice noodles.

However, it was disappointing -- the fish cakes and especially the fishballs had no bounciness in the texture -- they were quite dense and flat in flavour. 

It immediately made me pine for the packaged fish balls I used to buy in the supermarket in Hong Kong.

So I quickly ate them up and saved the rice noodles for last which were the bowl's saving grace. 

Impressive to see the place full for lunch, but also the line for the bakery was out the door on a weekday! Some came by to try their luck, others had pre-ordered and came to pick up, including a Filipino who seemed to be a regular.

One Caucasian man asked the owner if any of the buns had gluten in them... she had to tell him it was impossible for them to make non-gluten items...

So far the pickled vegetables with sliced pork and vermicelli in soup is a winner, the fish ball noodles is sadly a definite miss...